Bruce was one of seven daughters born to Elizabeth (née Manifold) and Andrew George Anderson, part of "a large family [...] with pioneer associations with western Victoria".

An uncle was Sir Walter Manifold, who served a term as President of the Victorian Legislative Council.

[7] After Stanley Bruce was appointed Australian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom in 1933, he and his wife lived in an official residence in Ennismore Gardens, South Kensington.

[9] In 1939, after the outbreak of war, they briefly relocated to a flat in Cranleigh, but soon moved back to South Kensington.

They enjoyed the theatre and played bridge and golf, and took annual holidays in France, at Le Touquet in the summer and Nice in the winter.