("Windsor and Eton Express" 31 Oct 1868, page 3):
The Dowager Duchess of Sutherland.-- On Tuesday morning, at 2 o'clock, died Harriet Elizabeth Georgiana Duchess Dowager of Sutherland, and Countess of Cromarty in her own right, whose name will long be held in affectionate remembrance by all classes of people. She was the third daughter of the sixth Earl of Carlisle. She was born in 1806, and was married on the 27th of May, 1823, to the second Duke of Sutherland, who then bore the courtesy title of Earl Gower. His Grace died in 1861, leaving issue four sons and seven daughters by this marriage . . .

The Dowager Duchess of Sutherland was Mistress of the Robes to Queen Victoria under all the Liberal Ministries from the time of her Majesty's accession until that of the late Duke's death, when she resigned the appointment. A political event, to which party history has given the name of the "Bedchamber Plot," and which affected the fate of a Ministry, turned upon the question of the Duchess being continued in office, despite the coming into power of a Government adverse to the principles of her family . . .

Though widely esteemed for her love of the arts and her liberal encouragement of artists, for her noble humanity which prompted her to sympathise with all movements having for their end the enfranchisement of peoples, and for her general kindness of heart, the celebrity of the Duchess of Sutherland as a reigning beauty of her day will always have a certain historical standing of its own. Concerning this attribute of sweet and stately grace, the thought of which was suggested by her mere name, the finest compliment ever paid to womanly loveliness deserves to be placed on record. On the completion of the Buckinghamshire residence, Cliveden, built for her by the late Duke, the pictorial decoration of her boudoir was undertaken by a French painter, M. Hervieu, who, having been desired to paint the "Judgment of Paris" on the centre panel inside the door of the room, left out the figure of Venus from the three goddesses, and represented the shepherd presenting the golden apple from the frame of the picture towards the interior of the apartment -- the Duchess's own.

There needs little exercise of memory to recall her deeds in aid of efforts to secure the freedom of the African race. Her warm welcome and hospitable entertainment of Mrs. Beecher Stowe demonstrated this great and ruling sentiment in a remarkable degree. Her grace's last illness was for some days past known to be mortal, and her gradually sinking state was watched with pain by the members of her family, who were with her when she died. The funeral will take place on Tuesday next. The remains will be removed from Stafford House, St. James's, where her ladyship died, to Trentham, in Staffordshire, where they will be interred in the family vault.