Grace Curzon, Marchioness Curzon of Kedleston

Grace Elvina, Marchioness Curzon of Kedleston (1879 - 1958) was born Grace Elvina Hinds in Alabama, U.S.A., the daughter of J. Monroe Hinds, former United States Minister to Brazil. Her first husband was Alfred Hubert Duggan of Buenos Aires, Argentina, with whom she three children including two sons - Alfred Duggan, an author of historical fiction, and Hubert Duggan, later a British Member of Parliament. She was a wealthy woman after her husband's death and in 1917 (at age 38) married George Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston. In later years some joked that despite his political disappointments, Curzon still enjoyed "the means of Grace".

Curzon had three daughters from his first marriage to Mary Victoria Leiter, Baroness Curzon of Kedleston: Mary Irene (later Lady Ravensdale), in 1896; Cynthia Blanche (first wife of Sir Oswald Mosley), on 23 August 1898; and Alexandra Naldera, on April 20 1904 (wife of Edward "Fruity" Metcalfe, the best friend, best man and equerry of Edward VIII). Despite fertility-related operations and several miscarriages, Lady Curzon was never able to give Curzon the son and heir he desperately desired, a fact that eroded their marriage, which ended in separation, though not divorce.

In 1925, soon before she was again widowed, her portrait was painted by the American artist John Singer Sargent This oil on canvas (129.22 cm x 92.39 cm) painting was Sargent's last oil portrait. The painting was purchased in 1936 by the Currier Museum of Art in Manchester, New Hampshire. [Currier Museum of Art, "Grace Elvina, Marchioness Curzon of Kedleston" retrieved 4/5/2007 [http://collections.currier.org/Obj13$170 Currier Museum] ]

References

George Nathaniel Curzon%2C 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston#Second marriage