She was regarded an equal in beauty and breeding, and, frequently, superior in manner and intellect of daughters of better known and longer established families in eastern U.S. society.

The position he had made for himself through his own talents was of more interest to her than his eventual inheritance, and his high reputation as a writer on the political questions in the East particularly attracted her admiration.

Mary Leiter and George Curzon were married on 22 April 1895 at St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square, Washington, D.C., by Bishop Talbot, assisted by the Rev.

[7] She played an important role in the reelection of her husband to Parliament that autumn and many thought that his success was due more to the winning smiles and irresistible charm of his wife than to his own speeches.

Her husband accepted the position of Viceroy of India and was elevated to the Peerage of Ireland as Baron Curzon of Kedleston in the summer of 1898 at age thirty-nine.

[9] In 1902 Lord Curzon organized the Delhi Durbar to celebrate the coronation of Edward VII, "the grandest pageant in history", which created a tremendous sensation.

At the state ball Mary wore an extravagant coronation gown, by the House of Worth of Paris, known as Lady Curzon's peacock dress, stitched of gold cloth embroidered with peacock feathers with a blue/green beetle wing in each eye, which many mistook for emeralds, tapping into their own fantasies about the wealth of millionaire heiresses, Indian potentates and European royalty.

Lady Curzon contributed to the design of the exquisitely rich and beautiful coronation robe of Queen Alexandra of the United Kingdom,[14] made from gold fabric woven and embroidered in the same factory in Chandni Chauk Delhi where she ordered all the materials for her own state gowns.

Lady Curzon was an invaluable commercial agent for the manufacturers of the higher class of fabrics and art objects in India.

William Eleroy Curtis, Chicago journalist and author, dedicated his book Modern India thus: "To Lady Curzon, An ideal American woman".

[17] In 1903 she sailed on a yacht from Karachi for a tour of the Persian Gulf with Lord Curzon, Ignatius Valentine Chirol, young Winston Churchill and other notable guests.

It was reported that the noted Assamese animal tracker, Balaram Hazarika, showed Lady Curzon around Kaziranga and impressed upon her the urgent need for its conservation.

[11] Lady Curzon's demanding social responsibilities, the tropical climate, a prolonged near-fatal infection following a miscarriage, and fertility-related surgery eroded her health.

[20][11] It is said that Lady Curzon, after having seen the Taj Mahal on a moonlit night, exclaimed in her bewilderment that she was ready to embrace an immediate death if someone promised to erect such a memorial on her grave.

The Curzons' youngest daughter, Alexandra Naldera, was conceived in July 1903 at Naldehra, 25 km from Shimla,[24] perhaps after a high altitude game of golf.

In 1977 a food article in The New York Times noted its popularity in Germany and, according to a letter to the columnist, that Lady Curzon always had sherry added to it.