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William Dalrymple, FRSL (born 20 March 1965 in Scotland) is a historian and travel writer. Dalrymple was born William Hamilton-Dalrymple, the son of Sir Hew Hamilton-Dalrymple, 10th baronet, a cousin of Virginia Woolf. He was educated at Ampleforth College and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was first a history exhibitioner and then senior history scholar.
Dalrymple is married to the artist Olivia Fraser and has three children, Ibby, Sam, and Adam, and a cockatoo called Albinia. He is a fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society and the Royal Society of Literature.