Irene Curzon, 2nd Baroness Ravensdale
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Mary Irene Curzon, 2nd Baroness Ravensdale, CBE, (20 January, 1896 – 9 February, 1966) was the eldest child of George Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston and Mary Victoria Leiter, a daughter of Levi Zeigler Leiter. She inherited her father's Barony of Ravensdale and was created a life peer as Baroness Ravensdale of Kedleston, in Derbyshire in 1958 - this allowed her to sit in the House of Lords prior to the passing of the Peerage Act 1963, which allowed suo jure hereditary peeresses to enter.
She had an intimate insight of the Duke of Windsor, his friendship and marriage to Wallis Simpson and the life of the House of Windsor, herself and through her sister Alexandra and her bother-in-law Major Edward Dudley Metcalfe [2], best friend of Edward VIII. She saw the rise of British fascism through her sister Lady Cynthia 'Cimmie' Mosley and her other brother-in-law Sir Oswald Mosley.
Irene was intensely musical and passionate about fox hunting, bridge, parties, drinking and sex. She had numerous adulterous love affairs within the elite Melton Mowbray hunting clique and had a long affair with the renowned pianist Arthur Rubinstein, with whom she slept with on his wedding day. [3]
Both Victor Cazalet and Nevile Henderson proposed to her. She was engaged to Miles Graham and Gorden Leith but never married and had no children. [4], [5] She worried that she and her money might be seen primarily as useful accompaniments to a political career and yearned to marry a man that would refuse to leave his wife. For consolation she turned to drink, charitable work and looking after her sisters' children. [6]
During the World War II she was based at the Dorchester Hotel 'the Dorch', her days spent nursing wounded soldiers, working in canteens, lecturing and doing other war work. Irene was made the fourth woman Life Peer for her work with youth clubs. Her (also adulterous) youngest sister, Alexandra Naldera 'Baba' Curzon, was also recognized a CBE for her tireless efforts on behalf of Save the Children Fund.
[edit] References
- ^ de Courcy Anne (2002) "The Viceroy's Daughters: the Lives of the Curzon Sisters", W. Morrow, New York, amazon.co.uk, paperback retrieved Feb 23, 2007rdr zmout/203-0287721-8107162?ie=UTF8&p=S001#reader-page Large cover image:, rdr ex/203-0287721-8107162?ie=UTF8&p=S00D&j=0#reader-page Excerpt:
- ^ Time, June 8, 1925Time
- ^ CARTER, MIRANDA (June 2, 2002) "Poor Little Rich Girls", New York Times - Books, retrieved Apr 4, 2007"Poor Little Rich Girls"
- ^ "The Viceroy's Daughters:" ISBN 0066210615 Library of Congress Online Catalog, retrieved Jan 16, 2007, Review
- ^ "The Viceroy's Daughters:", Hardcover Publishers Preview
- ^ Gilmour, David (Oct 28, 2000) "Washing one's mother's linen" a review of THE VICEROY'S DAUGHTERS: THE LIVES OF THE CURZON SISTERS by Anne de Courcy, The Spectator, retrieved 4/9/2007a review of THE VICEROY'S DAUGHTERS
| Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by George Nathaniel Curzon |
Baron Ravensdale | Succeeded by Nicholas Mosley |
