A Queen Adored: England's Elizabeth II Countess of Longford, Elizabeth Pakenham, was born in London England in 1906. She attended Lady Margaret Hall and Oxford University where she studied classical history and philosophy. She later married Oxford professor and politician, the seventh Earl of Longford in 1931, with whom she had eight children. She worked as a tutor from 1930-36 in the Worker's Educational Association, and was a member of the Paddington and St. Pomcras Rent Tribunal from 1946-51. She was also a Labour party candidate for Cheltenham, and later for the City of Oxford. After both campaigns proved unsuccessful, Longford began her career as a writer in 1954, whe