| Croline Agar-Ellis | |
| Viscountess Clifden | |
| Birthname: | Lady Caroline Spencer |
| Birth Date: | 27 October 1763 |
| Death Place: | Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England |
| Noble Family: | Spencer |
| Issue: | George Agar-Ellis, 1st Baron Dover |
| Father: | George Spencer, 4th Duke of Marlborough |
| Mother: | Lady Caroline Russell |
Caroline Agar-Ellis, Viscountess Clifden (27 October 1763 - 23 November 1813), formerly Lady Caroline Spencer, was an English noblewoman.
She was the eldest daughter of George Spencer, 4th Duke of Marlborough,[1] and his wife, the former Lady Caroline Russell.[2] In August 1782 she was due to marry George Leveson-Gower, Viscount Trentham, but the wedding was called off and instead she became engaged to George Gordon, Lord Strathavon; this engagement was also broken off.
She married Henry Agar-Ellis, 2nd Viscount Clifden (a former suitor of her sister Elizabeth), on 10 March 1792. They had one son, George Agar-Ellis (1797-1833), who later became Baron Dover.[1] Their only daughter, Caroline Anne (1794-1814), died unmarried.
A portrait of the future Viscountess with her sister Elizabeth, painted in 1791 by George Romney, was commissioned by their father.[3] It purports to show the sisters in the guise of the muses of Music and Painting (with Caroline representing the visual arts).[4] The painting became known as "the Clifden Romney"; when sold in 1896, it raised the third highest price ever paid for a painting in the UK.[5] It later came into the possession of the American businessman and collector Henry E. Huntington.[6]
Viscountess Clifden died at Blenheim Palace, aged 50, and was buried in the family vault of the Dukes of Marlborough, next to her mother.[7]