[1][2] Her parents were William Holden Duke, an English classical scholar and fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge, and Emilie Johanna von Lippe from near Dresden in Saxony.
[3] Her maternal grandfather, Robert von Lippe, managed a farm estate at Helfenberg as a tenant of the Saxon royal family.
[5] Having achieved first class honours in Part II of the Classical Tripos, she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1938.
[6] She was awarded the Charles Oldham Classical Scholarship in 1938, and so remained on at Cambridge to undertake research on the manuscripts of Books 31-40 of Livy's History of Rome.
[1] During this time, she worked at Greek refugee camps in Egypt, ensured that relief supplies reached a women's prison in Athens, and accepted the arms surrendered by ELAS guerrillas in Amphissa.