His wife began to establish a reputation as a hostess, "with a taste for the arts, or for artists anyhow, especially musicians",[3] and was known for being extremely well read in French and English literature.

[3] The biographer Alan Jefferson writes, "Soon she had captured all London society, and her … salon became the most important Mecca for musicians, painters, sculptors, poets and writers as well as for politicians, soldiers, aristocrats – indeed anybody so long as they were interesting".

At about this time, to the dismay of Moore, Lady Cunard fell in love with the conductor Thomas Beecham and became widely recognised in society as his companion.

[16] David Lloyd George considered Lady Cunard "a most dangerous woman", because although she was not greatly interested in politics, she beguiled senior politicians such as Lord Curzon into indiscreet statements at her dinner table.

[17] Among her regular guests in the 1930s was her fellow American Wallis Simpson, whose liaison with Edward, Prince of Wales she encouraged, thus reinforcing Queen Mary's disapproval of the Cunard set.

"[3] In the aftermath of the abdication, Cunard's association with Simpson tainted her social reputation considerably, although she took pains to distance herself, telling friends she had never met Wallis.

[18] Lady Diana Cooper described Cunard's generous habit of helping out friends in financial trouble: "If Emerald caught me or my kind forgoing a treat for economy's sake, she would casually call, pretend to fancy a picture or a table or a rug, and insist on buying it for double its worth.

Beecham's residence in the US in the early years of the war led Lady Cunard to move to New York, where she set up home in a luxurious hotel.