Antonia Fraser

The Lady Antonia Fraser (born August 27, 1932) is a British author of history and novels, best known for writing biographies. She is the daughter of the Earl and Countess of Longford, who were both eminent writers, Labour supporters and Catholic converts. Their eight children became child converts to the Roman Catholic Church. As the daughter of an Earl, Antonia Fraser is entitled to the title "Lady."

Life and Career

Lady Antonia was educated at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. Her first major work was Mary, Queen of Scots (1969). She followed it up with various other biographies, including Cromwell, Our Chief of Men (1973). She won the Wolfson History Award in 1984 for The Weaker Vessel, a study of women's lives in 17th century England. She was President of English PEN from 1988-99, and was Chairman of its Writers in Prison Committee.

Related Topics:
Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford - Mary, Queen of Scots - 1969 - Cromwell, Our Chief of Men - 1973 - 17th century - England - PEN - 1988 - 99

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In addition, she writes detective novels, with the most popular involving a character named Jemima Shore. A television series based on these stories was aired in the UK in 1983.

Related Topics:
Jemima Shore - UK - 1983

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

More recently, Lady Antonia published Warrior Queens, the story of various military royal women since the days of Boadicea and Cleopatra. In 1992 she published The Six Wives of Henry VIII. It was published only a year after Alison Weir's book of the same title, though academics felt that Fraser's work was the more impartial.

Related Topics:
Boadicea - Cleopatra - 1992 - Alison Weir

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Fraser later published The Gunpowder Plot: Terror and Faith in 1605. Her most recent work is an acclaimed and in-depth biography of France's last legitimate queen, Marie Antoinette. Marie-Antoinette: The Journey is apparently being adapted for film by Sofia Coppola, with the title role being played by Kirsten Dunst.

Related Topics:
Marie Antoinette - Sofia Coppola - Kirsten Dunst

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 1956 Lady Antonia married Sir Hugh Fraser, a Roman Catholic MP when she found out she was pregnant with his child. Sir Hugh was a Conservative Unionist in the House of Commons and was almost blown up by an IRA car bomb, with Antonia, and a visiting Caroline Kennedy in the car with him, however, another motorist, Dr. Gordon Hamilton-Fairley, a noted cancer researcher, died instead, due to several logistical reasons.

Related Topics:
1956 - MP - House of Commons - IRA

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

As a Roman Catholic, Lady Antonia caused a public scandal in 1977 by leaving her husband for playwright Harold Pinter. Pinter's then-wife, the now-deceased brilliant actress, Vivien Merchant, spoke publicly of her three-in-a-bed sessions and made cutting remarks to the press about Fraser's inability to keep both Merchant and Pinter satisfied, including the famous comment that "Fraser suffered from 'premature ejaculation syndrome'".

Related Topics:
1977 - Harold Pinter - Vivien Merchant

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Fraser and Pinter married in 1980, when Pinter and Merchant's divorce was finalized, and they live in Holland Park, west London. One of Lady Antonia's daughters, Flora Fraser, is an historical biographer.

Related Topics:
1980 - Holland Park - London - Flora Fraser

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~