[4][5] Grace grew up in a "great colonial mansion with 'banks of roses'", and although her father was a resident of Alabama, he fought with the Union Army as a captain of a cavalry company during the American Civil War.

[6] The family "had a flair for social life," travelling often and introducing Grace to the prominent people of the age, including U.S. President Grover Cleveland at the White House.

[6] Grace Duggan was a wealthy woman after her husband's death in 1915, inheriting an estate of more than $18,000,000,[9] which included eighteen large estancias in South America.

On the occasion of their marriage, Lord Curzon bought Bodiam Castle in East Sussex, a 14th-century building that had been gutted during the English Civil War.

[19] In the 1922 New Year Honours list, she was appointed Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE) for "services rendered during the War to the British Red Cross Society, and to the Soldiers' and Sailors' Families Association, the Belgian -Soldiers' Club, and Queen Alexandra's Nursing' Association.