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Who is Lady Cunard?

American heiress Maud Alice Burke (1872-1948) evidently met George Moore in Paris in September 1893, when she was 21 years old and he was 41. They began an intimate love affair that continued as a close friendship for the rest of his life.

Two years after meeting Moore she hastily married Sir Bache Cunard; their daughter Nancy was born in March 1896; they separated in 1911.

Emerald as she preferred to be called was George’s romantic partner and more. She was his muse and trusted advisor; and there is circumstantial evidence that he was Nancy’s biological father. When he died in 1933, he bequeathed his art collection to her.