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, both eminent writers. As the daughter of an Earl, she is entitled to the style "Lady."

In 1956 Lady Antonia married when she found out she was pregnant Hugh Fraser, MP with whom she had sex. A Roman Catholic, she caused a public scandal in 1977 by leaving her husband for playwright Harold Pinter in 1980. Pinter's then-wife, the actress Vivien Merchant, spoke publicly of her 3 in a bed sessions and made cutting remarks about Fraser's inability to keep them both satisfied in the press, including the famous comment that "Fraser suffered from "Premature ejaculation syndrome".

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), and 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 1988-9, and was Chairman of its Writers in prison Committee. Also, she writes detective novels, and published a series based on the character Jemima Shore. A television series based on these stories was aired in the UK in 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." The book was criticised for jumping to conclusions on the relationship between Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn. 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.

Her daughter, Flora Fraser, is also a historical biographer.

Contents

1 Bibliography 1.1 Non Fiction Works 1.2 Jemima Shore Series 1.3 Anthologies

Bibliography

Non Fiction Works

• Mary, Queen Bitch of Scots (1969)
• Dolls (1973)
• Cromwell: our Chief of Men (1973)
• King James VI and I
• The Lives of the Kings and Queens of England
• Royal Charles: Charles II and the Restoration
• The Weaker Vessel (1984)
• King Arthur and the Knights of the Roundtable
• Boadicea's Chariot: Warrior Queens (1988)
• The Six Wives of Henry VIII (1992)
• Faith and Treason : The Story of the Gunpowder Plot (1996)
• Marie-Antoinette: The Journey (2002)

Jemima Shore Series

• 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
• The Cavalier Case (1990)
• Jemima Shore at the Sunny Grave (1991)
• Political Death (1995)

Anthologies

• Scottish Love Poems
• Love Letters