Louisa Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire (born Countess Luise Friederike Auguste von Alten; formerly Louisa Montagu, Duchess of Manchester; 15 June 1832 – 15 July 1911) was a German-born British peeress sometimes referred to as the "Double Duchess" due to her marriages to the 7th Duke of Manchester and then to the 8th Duke of Devonshire.
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Early life
Luise Friederike Auguste, Countess von Alten, was born 15 June 1832 at Hanover in what was then the Kingdom of Hanover into a family of German nobility. She was a daughter of Karl Franz Viktor, Count von Alten (1800–1879), and his wife, Hermine von Schmincke (1806–1868), the daughter of Friedrich Christoph von Schmincke, who served as the government minister in the Electorate of Hesse. Her siblings included: Helene Charlotte Auguste, Countess of Alten, who married Andrei Bludov, Carl Friedrich Franz Victor, Count of Alten, who married Carolina Frederica Groeninx van Zoelen, and Guidobaldine, Countess of Alten, who married Graf August Grote and Don Luigi Maria Colonna, Prince of Stigliano, and Detlof von Bülow.
Her paternal grandparents were Adolf Viktor Christian Jobst, Count von Alten (1755–1820), and Charlotte Louise Wilhelmine Kinsky von Wchinitz und Tettau.