Richard Curzon, 4th Earl Howe

Richard George Penn Curzon, 4th Earl Howe, GCVO, TD, JP (28 April 1861 – 10 January 1929), styled Viscount Curzon between 1876 and 1900, was a British courtier and Conservative politician. He served as Treasurer of the Household between 1896 and 1900 and was Lord Chamberlain to Queen Alexandra. He was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford. He became a government member when he was appointed Treasurer of the Household under Lord Salisbury in 1896, a post he held until 1900, when he inherited his father's titles and gave up his seat in the House of Commons. He then served as and he served as Lord-in-waiting under Salisbury and then Arthur Balfour; he served Queen Victoria 1900–1901, and King Edward VII 1901–1903. and appointed Lord Chamberlain to Queen Alexandra. He served in that post until the Queen's death in 1925.

Lord Howe was also a captain in the Prince Albert's Own Leicestershire Yeomanry Cavalry, an honorary lieutenant-colonel in the 2nd Battalion of the Leicestershire Volunteer Regiment and a Justice of the Peace for Buckinghamshire.

His brother-in-law, Lord Randolph Churchill, appointed him one of his two literary executors; in that capacity he gave his consent to Winston Churchill writing the biography of his father, although with some reluctance.

Honours and decorations Lord Howe was appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO) in 1903.

He also received several foreign awards: Lady Howe later edited a book recording the work of the Imperial Yeomanry Hospital, published in December 1902.

After his first wife's death in 1906, Curzon married Florence, Dowager Marchioness of Dufferin and Ava, in 1919. After her death in 1925, he married his first cousin once removed, Lorna Curzon. He died in January 1929, aged 67, and was succeeded by his only son, Francis. The Countess Howe died in February 1961.

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