The daughter and eventual heiress of Sir Richard Temple, Bart. (1634-1697), of Stowe, Buckinghamshire, she married Richard Grenville and was the mother of Richard Grenville-Temple, 2nd Earl Temple and of the prime minister George Grenville. She was the sister of Richard Temple, Viscount Cobham, whose title she inherited under a special remainder in 1749; in the same year, her husband having been long dead, she was created Countess Temple.