Antonia Fraser

Vocation

Notable

Traits

Family

English author of historical biographies, detective stories, a series of mysteries and magazine articles. Her international best-sellers include "Mary, Queen of Scots," which won the James Tait Black award for biography in 1969. Her own blue-blood family had ties to several subjects of her biographies, including Oliver Cromwell ("Cromwell, the Lord Protector," 1973) and Charles II ("Royal Charles: Charles II and the Restoration," 1974). Time magazine wrote, "Scholarly research is the family hallmark. The brightest star in the family firmament is Antonia." She is the daughter of Francis Aungier Pakenham, seventh Earl of Longford (a politician and writer) and Elizabeth Pakenham, Countess of Longford (a writer). The eldest child of highly educated and politically active parents, Fraser was raised at Oxford where her father was a don, and academic pursuits were strongly encouraged by both parents. At thirteen, following the example set by her parents, she chose to convert to Catholicism and transferred to a Catholic school, loving the ritual and formality. A beautiful woman, she married Hugh Fraser, a Member of Parliament, on 9/25/1956; six kids, Rebecca, Flora, Benjamin, Natasha, Damian and Orlando; homes in London and Inverness. Two of their daughters became published authors. Prior to the establishment of her writing career, Fraser was known as a prominent member of London society. Divorced in 1977, her second marriage was to playwright Harold Pinter on 11/27/1980. In 1969, Lady Antonia Fraser secured her place as a major historian with the publication of her best-selling biography about Queen Mary, lauded for it’s careful documentation, picturesque details, and lively readability. Fraser has a high profile in the British media, both for her refreshingly unpretentious opinions and as a member of the "Literary Longfords," her aristocratic family that boasts eight writers in three generations. Fraser possesses an intuitive grasp of issues surrounding women, power, royalty, treachery, and treason, as demonstrated in "The Weaker Vessel: Woman's Lot in Seventeenth-Century England," 1984 and "The Warrior Queens," 1988. She writes both history and mystery with zest and nerve, and her primary interest is people, foolish queens, military commanders, former wives, rival siblings or stepdaughters desperate for attention. She has entertained many readers with intriguing tales of both fact and fiction. Her second husband, Harold Pinter, died of liver cancer in London, England on 24 December 2008. Link to Wikipedia biography