From the age of 11, when her family went to Tanzania, she divided her time between there and boarding school in the UK.
She studied for an undergraduate degree in modern history at Oxford University and, briefly worked at the National Portrait Gallery in London, before attending Boston University to study for a master's degree.
[2] From 2012 to 2015 King worked for the Heritage Lottery Fund as the head of the West Midlands region.
[4] As chief executive of York Museums Trust in 2017, King led the bid to secure £4.9 million funding of Arts Council England.
[7] King is a member of the National Museums Director's Council;[8] in April 2021 she was elected to its executive committee.