Antonia Fraser

Lady Antonia Fraser, née Pakenham, was born in London to an aristocratic English family. Her mother was the distinguished biography Elizabeth Longford. She was educated at the Dragon School in Oxford, St. Mary's School, Ascot, and Oxford University. She is the author of major historical biographies, including Mary, Queen of Scots (1969), The Weaker Vessel (1984) and The Wives of Henry VIII (1996), as well as a popular mystery series featuring British television personality and investigative journalist Jemima Shore. She is a past chairman of the British Crime Writers Association. Lady Antonia married her second husband, the late Harold Pinter, in 1980, and is sometimes known as Lady Antonia Pinter. She was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2011.