Grace Curzon, Marchioness Curzon of Kedleston
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Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
, a daughter of J. Monroe Hinds, former United States Minister to Brazil. Her first husband was Alfred Hubert Duggan of Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
, Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, with whom she had three children, including two sons - Alfred Duggan
Alfred Duggan
Alfred Duggan was an English historian, archeologist and best-selling historical novelist during the 1950s. Although he was raised in England, Duggan was born Alfred Leo Duggan in Buenos Aires, Argentina to a family of wealthy landowners of Irish descent. His family moved to England when he was...
, an author of historical fiction
Historical fiction
Historical fiction tells a story that is set in the past. That setting is usually real and drawn from history, and often contains actual historical persons, but the principal characters tend to be fictional...
, and Hubert Duggan
Hubert Duggan
Hubert John Duggan was a British Army officer and politician, who was Conservative Party Member of Parliament for Acton from 1931 until his death...
, later a British Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
.
She was a wealthy woman after her husband's death. In 1917 (aged 38) she became the second wife of George Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston
George Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston
George Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston, KG, GCSI, GCIE, PC , known as The Lord Curzon of Kedleston between 1898 and 1911 and as The Earl Curzon of Kedleston between 1911 and 1921, was a British Conservative statesman who was Viceroy of India and Foreign Secretary...
. 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 Curzon, Baroness Curzon of Kedleston
Mary Victoria Curzon, Baroness Curzon of Kedleston, CI was a British-American peeress who was Vicereine of India, as the wife of Lord Curzon of Kedleston, Viceroy of India.-In America:...
: Mary Irene, Lady Ravensdale
Mary Curzon, 2nd Baroness Ravensdale
Mary Irene Curzon, 2nd Baroness Ravensdale, CBE was the eldest child of George Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston and Mary Victoria Leiter, a daughter of Levi Ziegler Leiter...
in 1896; Cynthia Blanche
Lady Cynthia Mosley
Lady Cynthia Blanche Mosley was a British politician of Anglo-American parentage and the first wife of the Conservative and Labour MP and British fascist Sir Oswald Mosley...
(first wife of Sir Oswald Mosley
Oswald Mosley
Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley, 6th Baronet, of Ancoats, was an English politician, known principally as the founder of the British Union of Fascists...
), on 23 August 1898; and Alexandra Naldera, on April 20, 1904 (wife of Edward Dudley Metcalfe
Edward Dudley Metcalfe
Edward Dudley Metcalfe, MVO, MC, , known as Fruity Metcalfe, was an officer in the British Indian Army and a close friend and equerry of Edward VIII.-Career:...
, the best friend, best man and equerry of Edward VIII
Edward VIII of the United Kingdom
Edward VIII was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth, and Emperor of India, from 20 January to 11 December 1936.Before his accession to the throne, Edward was Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall and Rothesay...
). 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
John Singer Sargent
John Singer Sargent was an American artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Edwardian era luxury. During his career, he created roughly 900 oil paintings and more than 2,000 watercolors, as well as countless sketches and charcoal drawings...
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
Manchester, New Hampshire
Manchester is the largest city in the U.S. state of New Hampshire, the tenth largest city in New England, and the largest city in northern New England, an area comprising the states of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. It is in Hillsborough County along the banks of the Merrimack River, which...
.