[4] Rubenhold was born in Los Angeles to a British father and American mother[5] and undertook a BA in History at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Rubenhold has also worked in the commercial art world for Philip Mould and as an assistant curator for the National Portrait Gallery.

[8] She also works as a historical consultant for period dramas, including Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (BBC) and Harlots (Hulu / Amazon).

[9] Her book, Lady Worsley's Whim, published in November 2008, is an account of one of the eighteenth century's most sensational sex scandals, the criminal conversation case of Sir Richard Worsley against Maurice George Bisset for having committed adultery with Seymour Fleming, a member of The New Female Coterie established by Caroline Stanhope, Countess of Harrington.

[10] The Five, a biography of the five victims of Jack the Ripper,[11] won the £50,000 Baillie Gifford Prize in 2019 and was named the Hay Festival Book of the Year.