Anecdotes

Children (first marriage): sons Benjamin Hugh (b. 1961), Damian Stafford (b. 1964), and Orlando Gregory (b. 1967); daughters Rebecca Rose (b. 1957) Flora Elizabeth (b. 1958), and Natasha Antonia (b. 1963).

She was awarded the CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the 1999 Queen's Birthday Honours List for her services to Literature.

Daughter of the 7th Earl of Longford and the Countess of Longford, and sister of fellow writers Rachel Billington and Tom Pakenham.

Attended Dragoon School, and, after her conversion to Roman Catholicism, St. Mary's Convent School in South Ascot, England.

Nearly killed by an IRA car bomb in the 1970s in which her first husband was targeted. Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of the late President, could have been a passenger in the car that day as she was staying with the Frasers on holiday.

Has 13 grandchildren.

She was awarded Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2011 Queen's New Years Honours List for her services to literature.

She was awarded the CH (Member of the Order of the Companion of Honour) in the 2018 Queen's New Years Honours List for her services to literature. She is an author and historian.

She was appointed Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in Somerset House, London in 2003.