[1][2] Her father founded the conglomerate bearing his name, now owned by the Indian government, and (indirectly) Yule Catto & Co, now known as Synthomer plc.
Soon after the wedding, the couple moved to England; she refused to live in India after an attack of malaria, although her husband's business interests remained there, and so he was unable to spend much time in the UK.
They purchased Hanstead, a country house estate in Bricket Wood, Hertfordshire, five miles from St Albans and not far from London.
[9] Lady Yule and Gladys were world travellers who reportedly shared an interest in big game hunting: Hanstead House was said to have been adorned by a large stuffed bear which they had killed in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.
[citation needed] To facilitate their travels, Lady Yule ordered the large steam yacht Nahlin, from John Brown & Company of Clydebank, Glasgow.
[14] In 1936 they chartered the Nahlin to King Edward VIII for a summer cruise on the Adriatic with Wallis Simpson, then still married to her American husband.
He had succeeded to the throne only months before, and chose a private hire, rather than the royal yacht Victoria and Albert, to "enable the avoidance of formality accorded to Royalty".
"[18][19] Informal photographs of Edward and Simpson on board together during the cruise were not published in Britain but became front-page news in the United States.
[26] She showed more kindness to animals than to people, equipping her stables with mechanical drinking-troughs but expecting her staff to abstain from alcohol, as she did herself (although she was a heavy smoker).
Posthumously named after her, the Gladys Yule Surgical Wing, with cutting-edge facilities to anesthetise horses, was opened by the Queen in 1961.