Antonia Fraser

Lady Antonia Fraser, CBE (born 27 August 1932), née Pakenham, is an English author of history and novels, best known as Antonia Fraser for writing biographies and detective fiction. She is the widow of Harold Pinter (1930–2008), the 2005 Nobel Laureate in Literature, and, when married to him, was also known as Antonia Pinter.Mel Gussow, "The Lady Is a Writer", The New York Times Magazine, 9 Sept. 1984, Sunday Late City Final Ed., Sec. 6, Health: 60, col. 2. Print. New York Times, New York Times Company, 9 Sept. 1984, Web, 8 Apr. 2009. Cached version.Eleanor O'Donnell, "Author Profiles: Introducing Lady Antonia Fraser", Helium, Helium, Inc., 2002–2009, Web, 13 June 2008.Antonia Fraser, "Writer's Rooms: Antonia Fraser", Guardian, Culture: Books, Guardian Media Group, 13 June 2008, Web, 8 Apr. 2009. (Includes photograph of Antonia Fraser's study.)"Non-Fiction: Author: Antonia Fraser", Orion Books (Orion Publishing Group), © 2004–2007, [updated 2009], Web, 9 Apr. 2009. 
==Biography==
===Family background and education===
Born Antonia Margaret Caroline Pakenham on 27 August 1932, Antonia Fraser is the daughter of Frank Pakenham, 7th Earl of Longford (1905–2001), and his wife, Elizabeth Pakenham, Countess of Longford, née Elizabeth Harman (1906–2002). As the daughter of an Earl, she is accorded the honorific courtesy title "Lady" and thus customarily addressed formally as "Lady Antonia".
When she was a teenager,Ginny Dougary, "Lady Antonia Fraser's Life Less Ordinary: In a Frank Interview, the Famed Writer Talks about Motherhood, Catholicism, Her Parents and Soulmate Harold Pinter", Times, News Corporation, 5 July 2008, Web, 9 Apr. 2009. like all her siblings she became a convert to the Catholic Church after the conversion of her parents.Daniel Snowman, "Lady Antonia Fraser", History Today 50.10 (October 2000): 26-28, History Today, n.d., Web, 8 Apr. 2009 (excerpt; full article available to subscribers or pay-per-view customers). Her "maternal grandparents were Unitarians – a non-conformist faith with a strong emphasis on social reform ..."; in response to criticism of her writing about Oliver Cromwell, she has said: "I have no Catholic blood"; before his own conversion in his thirties following a nervous breakdown in the Army, as she explains, "my father was Protestant Church of Ireland, and my mother was Unitarian up to the age of 20 when she abandoned it." She was educated at St Mary's School, Ascot, the Dragon School, Oxford"Non-Fiction: Antonia Fraser: Author Q&A", Orion Books (Orion Publishing Group), © 2004–2007, [updated 2009], Web, 9 Apr., 2009. and Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford; the last was also her mother's alma mater.Nicholas Wroe, "Profile: The History Woman", Guardian, Arts & Humanities, Guardian Media Group, 24 Aug. 2002, Web, 8 Apr. 2009."Featured Alumni: Antonia Fraser: Author, Lady Margaret Hall", University of Oxford Alumni, University of Oxford, 29 Oct. 2007, Web, 17 June 2008.
===Marriages and later life===
From 1956 until their divorce in 1977, she was married to Sir Hugh Fraser (1918-1984), a descendant of Scottish aristocracy 14 years her senior and a Conservative Unionist MP in the House of Commons (sitting for Stafford), who was a friend of the American Kennedy family."Sir Hugh Fraser Dead; Long a Tory Legislator", New York Times, Obituaries, New York Times Company, 7 Mar. 1984, Web, 13 June 2008. They had six children: three sons, Benjamin, Damian, and Orlando; and three daughters, Rebecca, Flora, and Natasha (Natasha Fraser-Cavassoni), who are all also writers and biographers. Benjamin works for JPMorgan, Damian is the managing director of the investment banking firm UBS AG (formerly S. G. Warburg) in Mexico, and Orlando is a barrister specializing in commercial law (Wroe). Antonia Fraser has 18 grandchildren.
On 22 October 1975, Hugh and Antonia Fraser, together with Caroline Kennedy, who was visiting them at their Holland Park home, in Kensington, West London, were almost blown up by an IRA car bomb placed under the wheels of his Jaguar, which had been triggered to go off at 9am when he left the house; the bomb exploded prematurely when it was examined and inadvertently set off by the eminent cancer researcher Gordon Hamilton-Fairley (1930–1975). Hamilton-Fairley, a neighbour of the Frasers, who had been walking his dog, noticed and inspected the device under the car, and died as a result of the blast."Timeline: 1974-75: The Year London Blew Up", Channel 4, History, Channel 4, 27 Aug. 2007, Web, 8 Apr. 2009.
In 1975 Antonia Fraser began an affair with playwright Harold Pinter, who was then married to the actress Vivien Merchant. In 1977, after she had been living with Pinter for two years, the Frasers' union was legally dissolved. Merchant spoke about her distress publicly to the press, which quoted her cutting remarks about her rival, but she resisted divorcing Pinter. In 1980, after Merchant signed divorce papers, Fraser and Pinter married.
Harold Pinter died on 24 December 2008. 
She lives in the London district of Holland Park, within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, south of Notting Hill Gate, in the Fraser family home, where she still writes in her fourth-floor study.Antonia Fraser, "Sofia's Choice", Vanity Fair, Nov. 2006, Condé Nast Publications, Web, 9 Apr. 2009.
Correcting those who notice only her physical beauty—remarked upon both in her youth and well into her seventh decade—some commentators stress that, "more than just a pretty face", she is an accomplished historian and "an intellectual".Sam Leith, "Literary Lazing", Daily Telegraph, Arts Blogs, Telegraph Media Group, Inc, 10 July 2007, Web, 9 Apr. 2009.
==Career==
She began work as an "all-purpose assistant" for George Weidenfeld at Weidenfeld & Nicolson (her "only job"), which later became her own publisher and part of Orion Publishing Group, which publishes her works in the UK.Antonia Fraser, "Antonia Fraser: Author Q&A", Orion Books (Orion Publishing Group), © 2004–2007, [updated 2009], Web, 9 Apr. 2009.
Her first major work, published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson, was Mary, Queen of Scots (1969), which was followed by several other biographies, including Cromwell, Our Chief of Men (1973)."History Books by Antonia Fraser" and "Other Books by Antonia Fraser" at AntoniaFraser.com, Antonia Fraser, © 2007, Web, 9 Apr. 2009; "Author: Antonia Fraser: Non-Fiction", Orion Books (Orion Publishing Group), © 2004–2007 [updated 2009], Web, 9 Apr. 2009. She won the Wolfson History Award in 1984 for The Weaker Vessel, a study of women's lives in 17th century England. From 1988 to 1989, she was president of English PEN, and she chaired its Writers in Prison Committee.
She also has written detective novels; the most popular involved a character named Jemima Shore were adapted into a television series which aired in the UK in 1983.
In 1983 to 1984, she was president of the Edinburgh Sir Walter Scott Club."Our President in 1983/84 was: Lady Antonia Fraser", biography, Edinburgh Sir Walter Scott Club, n.d., Web, 8 Apr. 2009.
More recently, Fraser published The Warrior Queens, the story of various military royal women since the days of Boadicea and Cleopatra. In 1992, a year after Alison Weir's book The Six Wives of Henry VIII, she published a book with the same title, which British historian Eric Ives cites in his study of Ann Boleyn.Eric W. Ives, The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn, rev. ed. (1986; London: Blackwell's, 2004) xvii. ISBN 0631234799 (10). ISBN 978-0631234791 (13).
She chronicled the life and times of Charles II in a well-reviewed 1979 eponymous biography. The book was cited as an influence on the 2003 BBC/A&E mini-series, Charles II: The Power & the Passion, in a featurette on the DVD, by Rufus Sewell who played the title character. Fraser has also served as the editor for many monarchical biographies, including those featured in the Kings and Queens of England and Royal History of England series, and, in 1996, she also published a book entitled The Gunpowder Plot: Terror and Faith in 1605, which won both the St Louis Literary Award and the Crime Writers' Association (CWA) Non-Fiction Gold Dagger.Antonia Fraser, The Gunpowder Plot, antoniafraser.com, 2007, Antonia Fraser, Web, 13 June 2008.
Two of the most recent of her thirteen non-fiction books are Marie Antoinette: The Journey (2001, 2002), which has been made into the film Marie Antoinette (2006), directed by Sofia Coppola, with Kirsten Dunst in the title role, and Love and Louis XIV: The Women in the Life of the Sun King (2006).
She is represented by Curtis Brown Literary and Talent Agency, where her agent is Jonathan Lloyd, the Agency's CEO.
===Related experience===
She was a contestant on the BBC Radio 4 panel game My Word!.Cf. My Word!, BBC Radio 4, BBC, World Wide Web, 9 Apr. 2009.
She serves as a judge for the Enid McLeod Literary Prize, awarded by the Franco-British Society, previously winning that prize for her biography Marie Antoinette (2001)."Benefits", Franco-British Society, Franco-British Society, © 2008, Web, 9 Apr. 2009.Alex Danchev, "They Remember, But Others Forget", Times Higher Education Supplement, News Corporation, 2 Mar. 2007, Web, 13 June 2008.
===Forthcoming work===
According to an anonymous news account published in the Mail Online on 8 April 2009, Lady Antonia Fraser confirmed to its author on 7 April that her next book is "a memoir of her late husband Harold Pinter," but she also said, "It is early days and I don't want to make any comment at the present time because I am still in mourning"; although "a source at her publishers Weidenfeld & Nicolson told the reporter, "We have been sworn to secrecy about this," the writer speculates that the book is "expected to be a touching love letter" to Pinter."Pinter: The Final Chapter", Mail Online, Daily Mail and General Trust, 8 Apr. 2009, Web, 8 Apr. 2009. This Daily Mail reporter speculates further that "Some will even wonder if her intent is to pre-empt the possibility of another less agreeable biographer pitching up with the first book on Pinter's life and death." Such speculation does not seem to take account of the fact that Pinter's official authorised biographer, Michael Billington, who is generally quite sympathetic to Pinter ("agreeable"), announced in January 2009 that a third edition of his book Harold Pinter (2nd ed., 2007) is being rushed to press by Faber and that it "will take account of the international response to Pinter's death."Following Pinter's death on 24 December 2008, The Bookseller reported that Faber plans "to rush out an updated version" of Harold Pinter, "which will take account of the international response to Pinter's death, ... at the end of January [2009]" and that it "will be released first as an e-book." See Felicity Wood, "Faber Rushes Out Billington Ebook", The Bookseller, thebookseller.com, 7 Jan. 2009, Web, 9 Apr. 2009. [Contains the following correction by Peter Scott: "Pinter was born in 1930, not 1939."] In June 2009, Bookseller.com announced that the title of Fraser's memoir is Must You Go? My Life with Harold Pinter and that the completed manuscript, to be published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson's imprint Orion Books, is due in July.Catherine Neilan, "Fraser Reveals Life with Pinter", The Bookseller, thebookseller.com, 5 June 2009, Web, 12 June 2009. On 9 June 2009, the The Guardian stated that this memoir of a love affair and marriage would be published in January 2010."Antonia Fraser To Tell Harold Pinter 'love story' ", Guardian, Guardian Media Group, 9 June 2009, Web, 19 June 2009. ("Historical biographer will publish her 'portrait of a marriage' to the Nobel laureate in January 2010.") [There is a factual error in this account; the Pinter-Merchant marriage was not dissolved in 1977, as stated, but in 1980, shortly before Pinter and Fraser married; Merchant's delay in signing the divorce papers resulted in the reception (scheduled for Pinter's 50th birthday on 10 October 1980) being held before the wedding, which occurred two weeks later, according to Michael Billington's authorised biography of Pinter (Harold Pinter 271–72). It was the Frasers' marital union that was dissolved in 1977.]
She is also working on a biography of Queen Elizabeth I of England and Ireland.
==The Lady Antonia Fraser Archive in the British Library==
Lady Antonia Fraser's uncatalogued papers (relating to her "Early Writing," "Fiction," and "Non-Fiction") are on loan at the British Library (BL); there is a registry of this archive accessible via the British Library Manuscripts Catalogue online search facility, listing 19 boxes of materials.Loan No. 110B/1–19: Lady Antonia Fraser Archive, British Library Manuscripts Catalogue, Web, British Library, 1993– , Web, 8 Apr. 2009. Papers by and relating to Lady Antonia Fraser are also catalogued as part of the Harold Pinter Archive, which is part of its permanent collection of Additional Manuscripts.Previously part of the Pinter Archive (Loan No. 110), with the Harold Pinter Archive before its permanent acquisition being numbered Loan No. 110A (renumbered after its acquisition and cataloguing: Additional Manuscripts Collection No. 88880), the Lady Antonia Fraser Archive is still Loan No. 110B.For items by and relating to Antonia Fraser held in the Manuscripts Collections of the British Library, one uses the "Descriptions search" facility for "Antonia Fraser"; such verifiable searches are transitory; they yield "Brief descriptions" of the locations of materials by and relating to Antonia Fraser, but they time out and expire after each such search.
==Awards==
*James Tait Black Memorial Prize (1969), for her book Mary, Queen of Scots.
*Wolfson History Prize (1984), for her book The Weaker Vessel.
*Crime Writers' Association Macallan Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction (1996), for her book The Gunpowder Plot."Gold Daggers", Crime Writers' Association, Web, Crime Writers Association, n.d., 13 June 2008.
*St Louis Literary Award (1996), for her book The Gunpowder Plot.
*Historical Association Norton Medlicott Medal (2000).
*Enid McLeod Literary Prize (2001), from the Franco-British Society, for Marie Antoinette."Enid McLeod Literary Prize", Book Trust, Book Trust, 2007, Web, 9 Apr. 2009.
==Selected bibliography==
===Non-fiction works===
* Mary Queen of Scots (1969). ISBN 038531129X. Reissued, Phoenix paperback, 2001. ISBN 1842124463 (10); ISBN 9781842124468 (13). 40th anniversary ed., reissued Orion paperback, 7 May 2009. ISBN 9780753826546.
* King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table (1970)
* Dolls (1963)
* Cromwell, Our Chief of Men (1973). Also published as Cromwell: The Lord Protector. ISBN 0802137660.
* King James VI and I (1974)
* The Lives of the Kings and Queens of England (1975) [Editor.]
* King Charles II (1979). Also published as Royal Charles: Charles II and the Restoration and Charles II. ISBN 075381403X.
* The Weaker Vessel: Woman's Lot in Seventeenth-century England (1984)
* The Warrior Queens: Boadicea's Chariot (1988). Also published as Warrior Queens: The Legends and Lives of Women Who Have Lead Their Nations in War.
* The Six Wives of Henry VIII. (1999; rpt. & updated ed., London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2007). ISBN 029764355X (10). ISBN 9780297643555 (13). Also published as the Orion audio-book The Six Wives of Henry VIII (Nov. 2006). ISBN 0752889133. The first paperback ed. is The Six Wives of Henry VIII (London: Mandarin, 1993). ISBN 0749314095 (10); ISBN 9780749314095 (13). The 1st American ed. is entitled The Wives of Henry VIII. New York: Knopf, 1992. ISBN 0394585380 (10); ISBN 9780394585383 (13).
* The Gunpowder Plot: Terror and Faith in 1605 (1996); also published as Faith and Treason: The Gunpowder Plot. ISBN 0385471890.
* Marie Antoinette (2001). ISBN 0385489498. Also published with subtitle as Marie Antoinette: The Journey (2002). ISBN 0753821400 (10). ISBN 9780753821404 (13).
* Love and Louis XIV: The Women in the Life of the Sun King (2006). ISBN 0297829971.
=== Jemima Shore novels ===
* Quiet as a Nun (1977)
* The Wild Island (1978)
* A Splash of Red (1981)
* Cool Repentance (1982)
* Oxford Blood (1985)
* Jemima Shore's First Case (1986)
* Your Royal Hostage (1987)
* The Cavalier Case (1990)
* Jemima Shore at the Sunny Grave (1991)
* Political Death (1995)
===Anthologies (Editor)===
* Scottish Love Poems (1975)
* Love Letters (1976)
==See also==
*Earl of Longford
==Notes==
==Selected references==
;Biographies and profiles
:Gussow Mel. "The Lady Is a Writer". The New York Times Magazine 9 Sept. 1984, Sunday Late City Final Ed., Sec. 6: 60, col. 2. Print. New York Times, New York Times Company, 9 Sept. 1984. Web. 8 Apr. 2009. (8 pages.) Cached version.
:O'Donnell, Eleanor. "Author Profiles: Introducing Lady Antonia Fraser". Helium. Helium, Inc., 2002–2009. Web. 8 Apr. 2009.
:"Our President in 1983/84 was: Lady Antonia Fraser" (relocated to:) "Our President in 1983/84 was: Lady Antonia Fraser" (Updated version). Biography in "Past Presidents" section. Edinburgh Sir Walter Scott Club. Edinburgh Sir Walter Scott Club, n.d.; updated 2008–2009. Web. 5 Jan. 2008 and (updated version) 8 Apr. 2009. (First version hosted short audio clip of "Toast to Sir Walter; full text available in 1984 Club Bulletin; full speech available on CD from Club site; campaign underway to post the full speech online.)
: Snowman, Daniel. "Lady Antonia Fraser". History Today 50.10 (Oct. 2000): 26-28. Print. History Today, 2000. Web. 13 June 2008. (Excerpt; full article available to subscribers or pay-per-view customers.)
: Wroe, Nicholas. "Profile: The History Woman." Guardian, Arts & Humanities. Guardian Media Group, 24 Aug. 2002. Web. 13 June 2008.
;Interviews and interview-based articles
: Dougary, Ginny. "Lady Antonia Fraser's Life Less Ordinary: In a Frank Interview, the Famed Writer Talks about Motherhood, Catholicism, Her Parents and Soulmate Harold Pinter". Times. News Corporation, 5 July 2008. Web. 8 Apr. 2009.
: "Interviews: Antonia Fraser Peers into the Heart of Louis XIV". Weekend Edition Saturday. National Public Radio, 11 Nov. 2006. Web. 8 Apr. 2009. (NPR audio accessible for both RealPlayer and Windows Media Player.)
: Leith, Sam. "Literary Lazing". Daily Telegraph, Arts Blogs. Telegraph Media Group Ltd, 10 July 2007. Web. 8 Apr. 2009.
: Talese, Nan A. Interview with Antonia Fraser. Random House Books. Random House, 2001. Web. 8 Jan. 2008 (archived); 9 Apr. 2009. (Transcript; "This interview appears in an abridged form in the Nan A. Talese Fall 2001 Catalog of Authors.")
: Weinberg, Kate. "Culture Clinic: Lady Antonia Fraser". The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group Ltd, 15 Mar. 2008; updated 20 Mar. 2008. Web. 8 Apr. 2009.
;Timelines
:"Timeline: 1974–75: The Year London Blew Up: August–November 1975": "22 October 1975." Channel 4. Channel 4, n.d. Web. 6 July 2008.
==External links==
*"Antonia Fraser" – "Author Spotlight". Random House (US publisher).
*"Antonia Fraser" – Author webpage. Orion Publishing Group (UK publisher). Site by Bionic Media (UK).
*AntoniaFraser.com – Official website of Antonia Fraser. ("© 2007 Antonia Fraser. All rights reserved. Site by Bionic Media.")
*Antonia Fraser – Biography at her official website. 
*"Antonia Fraser" – Biography in conjunction with lecture presented to Seattle Arts and Lectures, Seattle, Washington, 28 Oct. 2006.
*Antonia Fraser – Client page at Curtis Brown Literary and Talent Agency.
*"Antonia's Choice" – In Desert Island Discs on BBC Radio 4 (first broadcast 27 July 2008; rebroadcast 1 Aug. 2008).
*"An Audience with Antonia Fraser" – Biography featured by Clive Conway Celebrity Productions.
*British Library Manuscripts Catalogue (Search facility: To find the Harold Pinter Archive by type and number (previously Loan No. 110A), select "Additional Manuscripts" in drop-down menu; enter collection number: 88880 ["Add MS 88880"]; the Lady Antonia Fraser Archive (whose contents are not catalogued but listed) is still Loan No. 110B.)
*"Lady Antonia Margaret Caroline Pakenham" – Biography posted in thePeerage.com: "A genealogical survey of the peerage of Britain as well as the royal families of Europe: Person Page - 7094 [#70938]" (last edited on 9 Dec. 2007).
Category:1932 births
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Fraser, Lady Antonia
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