They eloped, they had affairs with royalty and commoners and they demanded unlimited luxury. For the most aristocratic of women, the 18th century was an era of immense debauchery and decadence.
The four Lennox sisters were the Soong sisters of their day, marrying and dallying with the richest and most powerful men of England and Ireland.
Their stories are lavishly recreated in Aristocrats (Pearl, 9.30pm) the new six-part costume drama series from the BBC, based on the popular biography by Stella Tillyard and filmed on location in the historic Irish mansion homes of Emily and Louisa Lennox.
The Lennox women were daughters of the Second Duke Of Richmond. The eldest, Caroline, played by Serena Gordon, was the most independent, estranged from the family after eloping with the commoner politician Henry Fox, more than 20 years her senior.
The flirtatious Emily, played in her younger years by Geraldine Somerville and Sian Phillips in her older, came next. She bore 22 children before running off with her children's teacher.
Phillips has described the sisters as modern women who knew how to get what they wanted. Ben Daniels, who plays Kildare, elaborates on this. Kildare's relationship with Emily was based solely on sex and shopping. Lady Emily Lennox had the reputation in her lifetime as being the most expensive woman in the world for her taste in fine silks and art.