Barbara Cartland
(born 1901, Edgbaston, Birmingham, England; died 2000, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England)

Mother of Raine Spencer, Princess Diana's stepmother. Cartland was the massively popular author of more than 700 novels of romantic love set mainly in the 19th century. She published her debut novel, Jigsaw, in 1925 and by the mid-1970s was producing more than 20 romantic novels per year. Her novels tend to focus on the trials of a beautiful young virgin devoted to a handsome young rake and climax with a breathless love conquers all scene.