By Guest Blogger Spencer Blohm
Lady Antonia Fraser is
one of the most highly respected and influential biographers in the world. A
born and raised Londoner, she’s shined a light on history's most prolific,
controversial, and infamous characters. For her 82nd birthday on August 27th, let’s
take a look at the times of a woman who’s lived a life not too dissimilar from
her own book subjects.
Born in London in 1932 to the 7th Earl of Longford and
the Countess of Longford, part of the well-known “Literary Longfords,” who come
from a long line of authors, biographers, and poets. Growing up in a literary
inclined household meant an emphasis on education, particularly for Lady
Antonia, whom her mother described as “the most precocious” of the eight Pakenham
children. Her education included stints at the Dragon School in Oxford, St
Mary’s School, Ascot, and Oxford.
Following her graduation, she began work as an assistant
at Weidenfeld & Nicolson, a publishing house. However, she soon met and
married Sir Hugh Fraser, a Member of Parliament for Stafford and Stone, and
quit working in order to become a homemaker and mother. For nearly 15 years,
her focus was on her children and husband, but the creative instincts so deeply
ingrained in her DNA were always boiling under the surface. After it was
suggested to her mother (also a published author) that she should write a
biography about Mary Queen of Scots, Lady Antonia persuaded her mother to let
her write the book and, while carrying her fifth child, she began her research.
When asked about how she could have possibly managed to raise six children
while also doing the extensive research and hard work required to write
historical biographies Lady Antonia explained to The Telegraph: “I allowed no one to disturb me between
9.30am and 12.30pm with anything much short of a broken leg. My daughter
Natasha put up a sign on my door saying, ‘Nobody allowed not even you otherwise
no pocket money, no conversation and worst of all no mother’”
In 1969 Mary, Queen of Scots was published, marking the beginning of the then-37-year-old Lady
Antonia’s long and wildly successful career. From there, she quickly churned
out book after book detailing the rich history of her native England and its
eccentric monarchy. As her writing career took off, her marriage disintegrated
and she notoriously found solace in the playwright Harold Pinter who, at the
time, was married to the successful stage and film actress Vivien Merchant.
With both of them leaving their respective spouses in order to get married,
Lady Antonia had her first real experience with the press. However it wasn’t
the literary pages who were now writing about her, and the subject was far from
her work.
After the couple wed in 1980, she continued to write and
published historical biographies of noted monarchs like Charles II, the fabled Boadicea, Henry VIII and his many wives, as well as a critical examination of the life
of a woman in the 17th century England called The Weaker Vessel. It was in 2001, however, that her most well-known
book, Marie Antoinette: The Journey was published. The book offers a refreshingly
unbiased and deeply analytical look at the life of the notorious French queen.
Before the book was even published, director Sofia Coppola reached out to Lady
Antonia about discussing the possibility of Coppola buying the rights to the
book to make a film. Of this proposition Lady Antonia noted in her diary, “But of course the film won’t actually happen.
Because it never does.” Obviously she was wrong, and she served as a source as
Coppola both wrote and directed the movie. Lady Antonia was a vital resource to
the creation of the film and met with many of the cast and crew before and
during filming to consult with them on the direction they were going and the
historical accuracy of it all. Of the final product, she wrote “In principle I loved Sofia’s use of anachronisms—the witty flash
of sneakers amid a delicious montage of pink and turquoise shoes was especially
pleasing. None of the liberties taken bothered me.”
To coincide with the film’s release, her book was
republished in 2006 and gained an even larger following than it had after its
initial release. She continued to focus on the French court, as a change of
pace, and published Love and Louis XIV: The Women in the Life of
the Sun King which, perhaps not
coincidentally, was also released in 2006. It was at this time she decided to
focus on a subject much closer to home; herself and her husband. Following the
death of her husband in 2008, she decided to write about her life with her late
husband and the decidedly elegant and grand 33 years they spent together. The
book, Must you Go?: My Life with Harold Pinter was published in 2010 to critical praise.
While she has yet to release a book since 2010, Lady
Antonia continues to be an important figure in English culture. She was
elevated to Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2011 and has
continued to work on passion projects like the protection of English cultural
objects and even serves as an advisor to the Man Booker International Prize
committee. She also revealed in April that she’s currently working on a memoir of her
early life, slated to be published in 2015. It looks like despite having every
right to retire and put up her feet, Lady Antonia Fraser still cannot resist
the drive to write, something for which we are surely all grateful.
Spencer Blohm is a
freelance entertainment blogger for http://www.direct-ticket.net/. He came to know about Lady Antonia through his
love of medieval and renaissance monarchy and is still a steadfast (although
slightly closeted) history buff. He lives and works in Chicago where he can
usually be found with his nose in a book or eyes glued to the T.V.
