She received international media attention after her photograph from that day, standing alongside the British royal family on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, circulated in the news.

Winston Churchill nicknamed Lady Ursula "the cygnet" in 1938 for her comparative youth and beauty among a travelling company that accompanied the king and queen on a royal tour in France that year.

During World War II Lady Ursula worked as a nurse with the Voluntary Aid Detachment before being appointed to a managerial position over 2,000 women employees at the British Manufacture and Research Company's munitions factory in Grantham.

In her later life she received attention for her brief relationship with Maharaja Man Singh II of Jaipur and her long-term affair with American oilman J. Paul Getty.

[13] After living in Paris, Lady Ursula was sent to finishing school at the Villa Malatesta in Florence, Italy where she studied Italian, art, and architecture.

[19] In 1937 Lady Ursula served as one of six maids of honour to Queen Elizabeth during her and King George VI's coronation at Westminster Abbey.

[20][21] Lady Ursula, along with the other maids of honour, was dressed in a white gown designed by Norman Hartnell, the royal dressmaker to the Queen.

She was photographed alongside the royal family on the balcony of Buckingham Palace after the ceremony and received international media attention when observers noted her beauty and distinctive widow's peak.

[26] Once the United Kingdom entered into World War II, the Manners family arranged to lend Belvoir Castle and Haddon Hall as repositories for historic national documents from the Public Record Office.

[29] She was later posted to St George's Hospital at Hyde Park Corner, where she was responsible for giving atropine injections to the wounded before they underwent operations.

Peregrine Cust, 6th Baron Brownlow arranged for her to meet Denis Kendall, the managing director of the British Manufacture and Research Company's munitions factory, who offered her a job.

[38] In October 1947 she attended the wedding of Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart, 18th Duchess of Alba and Luis Martínez de Irujo y Artázcoz at the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the See in Seville, Spain.

[42][47] She was aware that Getty had affairs with other European aristocratic women at this time, including Mary Teissier and Countess Marianne von Alvensleben.