拍品专文
RICHARD, 1ST EARL HOWE
Richard William Penn Curzon was born in 1796 at Gopsall, Leicestershire, the only son of Sophia-Charlotte, Baroness Howe and the Hon. Penn-Assheton Curzon, the eldest son of Assheton, 1st Viscount Curzon. Richard was educated at Eton College and Christ Church, Oxford. He succeeded his paternal grandfather as Viscount and Baron Curzon of Penn in 1820, taking up his seat in the House of Lords in the same year.
He married Harriet Georgiana (1799-1836), daughter of Robert, 6th Earl of Cardigan in 1820. In the following year he took the name of Howe after that of Curzon, by Royal License, as heir to his mother, who had inherited the Howe barony following the death of her father the Admiral 1st Earl Howe in 1799. The earldom of Howe was regranted to Richard in 1821.
He was made a Lord of the Bedchamber to King George IV from 1829 until the King's death in 1830. He then became Lord Chamberlain to Queen Adelaide, the Queen Consort from 1830 to 1831 and again in 1834 until 1837. He remained in the position after the Queen became the Queen Dowager until 1849. He was well liked by both King William IV and Queen Adelaide. Unfounded rumours at the time even suggested he had had an affair with the Queen. He succeeded his mother as Baron Howe of Langar in 1835. He married secondly, in 1845, Anne (1817-1877), daughter of Admiral Sir John Gore, K.C.B. and granddaughter of Admiral Sir George Montagu G.C.B. She had been Maid of Honour to Adelaide, Queen Consort. He died at Curzon House, Mayfair, Middlesex, on 12 May 1870.