DEATH By Duke of Devonshire The Duke of Devonshire is coming towards the end of his life and he has mixed feelings about death. Yes, there is fear, and he's not sure he wouldn't prefer oblivion to an afterlife - the problems of this world are quite enough. But the older you are the more you accept death's inevitability. Life, in historical terms, is a very short span, and he takes comfort from the fact that the view out of the window will continue unchanged after he has gone.