[1] Winifred Selina ("Bena") Sturt was the second daughter of Henry Gerard Sturt, 1st Baron Alington, of Crichel, Dorset, and his first wife Lady Augusta Bingham, the first daughter of George Charles Bingham, 3rd Earl of Lucan.

[2] Henry Gerard Sturt was a racing magnate and close friend of Edward, Prince of Wales.

The Sturt family opposed Winifred's engagement to Charles Hardinge on account of Winifred and Charles' consanguinity (they were first cousins), as well as Hardinge's relative indigence, but the couple married on 17 April 1890.

[3] The couple had three children:[2] Mrs. Charles Hardinge was a Woman of the Bedchamber to the Princess of Wales from 1893.

When Edward VII acceded the throne in 1901, she continued as a Woman of the Bedchamber to the new queen, Alexandra, serving throughout the reign 1901–1910.