Anne Theodosia Moira King (née Leslie; first married name Rodzianko; 21 November 1914 – 5 November 1985), generally known as Anita Leslie, was an American-born Anglo-Irish biographer and writer. She was a first cousin once removed of the British wartime Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill.
Contents
Childhood and education
The eldest of three children born in New York City, to a wealthy Anglo-Irish landowning family (49,968 acres). Anita Theodosia Moira Leslie, alongside her brothers (Sir John Leslie, 4th Baronet and Desmond Leslie) were born to Sir John Randolph Leslie, 3rd Baronet (a.k.a. Shane Leslie) and his wife, Majorie Ide, the Vermont-born daughter of General Henry Clay Ide the US ambassador to Spain.
Anita described her schooling as ‘abysmal’. She had more than a dozen governesses and attended seven schools in Britain and France. Her 1981 autobiography, The Gilt and the gingerbread, details her early childhood and eventual decision to leave the home of her grandparents and play her part in the Second World War.