She was noted as the wife of the UK's representative on the Security Council of the United Nations and as a hostess in Paris where her husband was the British Ambassador.

She was the last of four children born to Celia Brunel James and Sir Saxton William Armstrong Noble, third baronet of Ardmore and Ardardan.

He was a entrepreneurial civil engineer and they lived at Jesmond Dene, Newcastle upon Tyne where she born on 20 November 1898 and baptised quickly (as she was expected to die).

[1] The following year they were sent to New York where they became the popular centre of attention as Gladwyn Jebb was the British representative on the Security Council which was exercising its power during the Korean Crisis.

During their stay the Suez Crisis made Anglo French diplomacy very important and when they left in 1960 General de Gaulle held a dinner for them.