Introduction

Anna Pasternak is a British author, journalist and royal commentator. She became widely known after writing Princess in Love, the 1994 book about Diana, Princess of Wales, and James Hewitt.

That book changed her career fast.

She later moved into historical nonfiction. Her books have examined Olga Ivinskaya, the woman closely connected with Boris Pasternak and Doctor Zhivago, and Wallis Simpson, whose relationship with Edward VIII remains one of Britain’s most discussed royal stories.

As of September 2026, Pasternak is still active as a writer and commentator. Her professional representation lists her as contributing to major British publications and appearing on television, radio and podcasts to discuss the royal family.

Quick Facts About Anna Pasternak

Detail	Information
Full Name	Anna Pasternak
Profession	Author, journalist and royal commentator
Nationality	British
Education	St Paul’s Girls’ School and Christ Church, Oxford
Known For	Princess in Love, Lara and writing about Wallis Simpson
Famous Family Connection	Great-niece of Boris Pasternak
Great-Grandfather	Painter Leonid Pasternak
Father	Professor Charles Pasternak
Early Publishing Work	Quartet Books
Current Work	Journalism, books and royal commentary
Literary Agent	Eugenie Furniss
Organisation Role	Writers’ Advisory Council, Free Speech Union

Who Is Anna Pasternak?

Anna Pasternak is best known as a British writer whose career has crossed newspapers, bestselling books and royal commentary.

Her name first reached a much wider audience during the 1990s.

She was only in her twenties when Princess in Love appeared. The book dealt with a deeply sensitive royal story and created a huge amount of press attention.

Her later career took another route.

Instead of staying focused only on contemporary royal reporting, Pasternak began writing books about women whose public reputations had been shaped by history, newspapers and other people’s accounts.

That shift became clear in Lara and her work on Wallis Simpson.

Anna Pasternak’s Family Background

Pasternak comes from a family with strong literary, artistic and academic connections.

Her great-grandfather was painter Leonid Pasternak.

Her great-uncle was Boris Pasternak, the Russian writer behind Doctor Zhivago and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature.

This relationship sometimes creates confusion online.

Anna Pasternak is Boris Pasternak’s great-niece. She is not his daughter or granddaughter.

Her father, Professor Charles Pasternak, worked in biochemistry.

The Pasternak family connection later became especially relevant to Anna’s own writing when she began researching Olga Ivinskaya.

Education

Anna Pasternak attended St Paul’s Girls’ School in London.

She later studied at Christ Church, Oxford.

After university, she spent about a year working for independent publisher Quartet Books.

That gave her an early look at publishing from inside the industry.

Then came journalism.

She began contributing to newspaper diary pages, including work connected with major British papers such as The Telegraph, The Times and the Evening Standard.

It was the start of a much longer press career.

Early Journalism Career

Pasternak went on to write for British national newspapers for many years.

Her professional agency says her career included five-year contracts with both the Daily Mail and Sunday Times.

She has also written for publications including The Daily Telegraph, The Independent, Tatler and Condé Nast Traveller.

Her subjects have varied.

Royalty has become one of the areas most closely tied to her public work, but her writing has also covered relationships, travel, culture and historical figures.

Princess in Love Changed Her Public Profile

The major early turning point came in 1994.

At around 26, Pasternak wrote Princess in Love.

The book centred on Diana, Princess of Wales, and James Hewitt. Hewitt was a major source for the account.

The reaction was intense.

Pasternak’s official professional material says the book sold more than half a million copies internationally.

That is a big number.

It also became a CBS television film.

The subject made the book controversial from the start because it dealt with the private life of one of the world’s most famous women.

Diana later publicly acknowledged her relationship with Hewitt during her 1995 Panorama interview.

For Pasternak, Princess in Love became the book that firmly established her name in British publishing.

Anna Pasternak and Boris Pasternak

Her family connection with Boris Pasternak eventually led to another major book.

This time, the story was far more personal.

Anna began looking closely at Olga Ivinskaya, Boris Pasternak’s partner and literary muse.

Ivinskaya had an important connection with Doctor Zhivago. Her life was also affected by Soviet state pressure because of her relationship with Pasternak.

Anna has said that her interest began after speaking with her grandmother, Josephine Pasternak, when Anna was still young.

Questions remained.

She wanted to understand Ivinskaya’s side of the story.

That meant research, interviews and repeated contact with people close to the events.

Lara: The Untold Love Story That Inspired Doctor Zhivago

Pasternak published Lara: The Untold Love Story That Inspired Doctor Zhivago in 2016.

The book focuses on Olga Ivinskaya.

Anna Pasternak researched Ivinskaya’s relationship with Boris Pasternak and the personal consequences surrounding their connection.

She also worked to gain the trust of Ivinskaya’s daughter, Irina.

That took time.

Pasternak has spoken publicly about making several research trips to Russia while working on the book.

She has also said she does not speak Russian fluently, despite her Russian family background.

Her agency currently describes Lara as being in film production.

No confirmed public release date should be stated unless officially announced.

Writing About Wallis Simpson

Pasternak later turned her attention to another woman whose public image has been argued over for decades: Wallis Simpson.

Her book was published under titles including The American Duchess and The Real Wallis Simpson.

Wallis became the Duchess of Windsor after marrying Edward VIII, who had abdicated the British throne in 1936.

Pasternak’s book questions parts of the commonly repeated picture of Wallis and examines her place in the abdication story.

This fits a pattern in Pasternak’s later work.

She often writes about women whose reputations were shaped by powerful institutions, public scandal or historical storytelling.

Books by Anna Pasternak

Some of her best-known published works include:

Princess in Love

Published in 1994, this is the book that first brought Pasternak major international attention.

Lara: The Untold Love Story That Inspired Doctor Zhivago

Published in 2016, it tells the story of Olga Ivinskaya and her relationship with Boris Pasternak.

The American Duchess / The Real Wallis Simpson

This work looks again at Wallis Simpson and her part in one of the biggest royal controversies of the twentieth century.

Daisy Dooley Does Divorce

Pasternak has also written fiction, including this work centred on relationships and divorce.

Call Off The Search

Another title connected with relationships and personal life.

Anna Pasternak as a Royal Commentator

Books are only one part of her work.

Pasternak has become a regular commentator on Britain’s royal family.

She appears on television, radio and podcasts.

Her background makes that understandable.

She has spent decades writing about royal personalities, press coverage, relationships and the public stories built around monarchy.

Her commentary often focuses on the people behind royal headlines.

As of September 2026, her agency still lists royal commentary as an active part of her professional work.

Her Oxford Union Appearances

Pasternak has also spoken publicly about the future of the British monarchy.

In June 2021, she spoke at the Oxford Union against a motion calling for the abolition of the monarchy.

Her position had changed by another Oxford Union appearance in May 2026.

At that debate, she proposed the motion, “This House Believes the Monarchy Died with the Queen.”

That does not mean she simply switched from supporting to opposing every aspect of monarchy.

The two motions were different.

Still, the contrast shows how her public discussion of the institution changed between the two appearances.

Current Work

As of September 2026, Anna Pasternak remains professionally active.

Her agency says she currently writes for outlets including:

• The Daily Telegraph
• The Independent
• Tatler
• Condé Nast Traveller

She also continues to appear as a royal contributor on television, radio and podcasts.

Her official site has continued publishing links to recent articles and appearances during 2026.

So this is not a retired writer profile.

She is still working.

Writers’ Advisory Council

Pasternak is listed on the Writers’ Advisory Council of the Free Speech Union.

The organisation’s current public people page includes her among a group of writers on that council.

This is a publicly listed organisational role.

It should not be used to assume wider political views that Pasternak has not personally stated.

Anna Pasternak’s Husband

Pasternak is married to Andrew Wallas.

His name is confirmed in public court records connected with the 2022 Pasternak v Prescott case, where he gave evidence.

Pasternak has also publicly referred to her husband as a psychotherapist.

She has discussed parts of her family life in her own interviews and writing, but most private family details do not need to be repeated in a professional profile.

Does Anna Pasternak Have Children?

Yes.

Pasternak has publicly acknowledged having a daughter.

Her official website has also carried writing involving her daughter, Daisy.

There is little reason to add more private detail than that.

Her professional work remains the main story.

Pasternak v Prescott

One important part of Pasternak’s recent public record involves a copyright case.

She brought proceedings against American novelist Lara Prescott, author of The Secrets We Kept.

The dispute concerned similarities that Pasternak alleged existed between Prescott’s novel and Pasternak’s nonfiction book Lara.

The High Court delivered judgment in October 2022.

Pasternak’s main claim concerning the selection and arrangement of historical material was rejected.

A separate issue involving copyrighted translated material succeeded.

That distinction matters.

Saying that every part of her case failed would be inaccurate. Saying she broadly won the dispute would also give readers the wrong picture.

The main copyright argument did not succeed.

Anna Pasternak’s Net Worth

Reliable public records reviewed for this profile do not provide a verified figure for Anna Pasternak’s net worth.

So no estimate should be treated as fact.

What can be confirmed is that Princess in Love sold more than half a million copies internationally and became a television adaptation.

Those are documented career facts.

They do not tell us her personal wealth.

Why Anna Pasternak Remains Known

For many readers, Anna Pasternak’s name still immediately connects with Princess in Love.

But stopping there misses most of her later career.

She went on to spend decades in British journalism.

Then came books about Olga Ivinskaya and Wallis Simpson.

Now she also appears regularly in royal commentary.

Her work has moved across several forms, yet one theme keeps returning: how a public story about a woman can become fixed, and what happens when another writer checks that story again.

Verified Interesting Facts

• Anna Pasternak is Boris Pasternak’s great-niece.
• Her great-grandfather Leonid Pasternak was a painter.
• She studied at Christ Church, Oxford.
• She worked at Quartet Books before moving deeper into journalism.
• Princess in Love sold more than 500,000 copies.
• The book was adapted for television by CBS.
• Pasternak made several trips to Russia while researching Lara.
• She has publicly said she does not speak Russian fluently.
• She remains active as a writer and royal commentator in 2026.
• She is listed on the Free Speech Union’s Writers’ Advisory Council.

Final Thought

Anna Pasternak’s public career started with a book that triggered huge press attention.

But that was only the first chapter.

She kept writing.

Journalism followed. Then historical books. Royal commentary became another major part of her work.

Her family connection with Boris Pasternak gave Lara a personal link, while her later writing on Wallis Simpson continued her interest in women whose public reputations remain disputed.

As of 2026, Pasternak is still active across journalism, books and broadcasting.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Anna Pasternak?

Anna Pasternak is a British author, journalist and royal commentator known for books including Princess in Love, Lara and her work about Wallis Simpson.

Is Anna Pasternak related to Boris Pasternak?

Yes. Anna Pasternak is Boris Pasternak’s great-niece.

What is Anna Pasternak famous for?

She first became widely known for her 1994 book Princess in Love, which dealt with Diana, Princess of Wales, and James Hewitt.

What did Anna Pasternak study?

She attended St Paul’s Girls’ School and later studied at Christ Church, Oxford.

Is Anna Pasternak still working?

Yes. As of September 2026, she remains active as a writer and royal commentator.

Who is Anna Pasternak’s husband?

Public court records identify her husband as Andrew Wallas. Pasternak has described him publicly as a psychotherapist.

Does Anna Pasternak have a daughter?

Yes. She has publicly acknowledged having a daughter, Daisy.

What books has Anna Pasternak written?

Her known works include Princess in Love, Lara: The Untold Love Story That Inspired Doctor Zhivago, The American Duchess / The Real Wallis Simpson, Daisy Dooley Does Divorce and Call Off The Search.

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