Eleanor Agnes Hobart, Countess of Buckinghamshire (née Eden; 1777 – October 1851) was the eldest child of Lord Auckland. As a young woman, she was rumoured to have been engaged to William Pitt the Younger, the Prime Minister, but he disavowed the connection and never married.

Early life

Eleanor was born the eldest child of William Eden, 1st Baron Auckland, and his wife, Eleanor Elliot, daughter of Sir Gilbert Elliot, 3rd Baronet, of Minto. Her mother was a sister of Gilbert Eliott, 1st Earl of Minto.

Relations with Pitt

Pitt and Eleanor met at her father's home at Beckenham, during Pitt's repeated visits there from his own home at nearby Holwood House, near Bromley in Kent, but early in 1797 Pitt quashed spreading rumours that he intended to marry her by writing to Auckland: Auckland replied: He also tried to get Pitt to reveal what was the "insurmountable obstacle" he mentioned, but Pitt's only answer was that "further explanation or discussion can answer no good purpose."

Marriage

In 1799, she married Robert Hobart, 4th Earl of Buckinghamshire, becoming his second wife. They had no children. Lord Buckinghamshire died in February 1816 at the age of 55, after falling from his horse.