After her move to London, Lady Cunard met and became infatuated with the conductor Sir Thomas Beecham (pictured). The pair began a long-term extramarital affair, much to the annoyance of the novelist George Moore, who had been in love with Maud for many years. Alarmingly, the prime minister at the time, David Lloyd George, considered her dangerous due to her ability to persuade politicians to reveal top-secret information at her parties.

The Baronet died in 1925, and Lady Cunard never remarried. Her lover, Sir Thomas, moved to the US at the beginning of World War II, and she followed him there, setting up home in an expensive New York hotel. However, in 1942, Beecham became engaged to musician Betty Humby, who was 36 years younger than Lady Cunard. Devastated, she moved back to London, taking up residence in the Dorchester Hotel, where she died in 1948 aged 75.

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