She subsequently undertook further study at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, obtaining the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) in 1976.

[2] In 1959, at the age of 15, she married Stanislaus Joseph D'Souza, the son of a civil servant in the Indian government.

[9] In December 2015, the results of a Freedom of Information request[10] revealed that D'Souza spent £230 to keep a chauffeured car waiting while she watched a performance of Benjamin Britten's Gloriana with the chairman of the Federation Council of Russia.

It was also revealed that a 10-day official trip to Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan in the autumn of last year cost nearly £26,000, and that she had spent £4,000 across a five-year period on fresh flowers for her office at the taxpayer's expense.

[13] After returning to the crossbenches she called for urgent action to address the growing size of the House of Lords, including limits on the Prime Minister's patronage power.