AN EXTRAORDINARY diplomat who spent her career at the heart of international affairs has died aged 90.

Dame Margaret Anstee was known as a pioneer for her peacekeeping missions that took her to 130 countries during 41 years working with the United Nations.

Rising through the ranks she became the first woman to take on the role of Under Secretary General.

In 1992 she was the first woman to head a UN peacekeeping mission in Angola and was tasked with overseeing the election campaign which brought together President Dos Santos and rebel leader, Dr Jonas Savimbi.

During retirement she spent many years of living in Bolivia overlooking Lake Titicaca before moving to to Knill, near Titley, where she died on Thursday.

Speaking to the Hereford Times last September Dame Anstee said: "I try to encourage women that the sky really is the limit.

"I came from a modest background and with a mixture of luck and very hard work, I've had an interesting and adventurous life." 

Born in Writtle, Essex in 1926, the daughter of a typesetter she went on to study Spanish and French at Newham College, Cambridge entering the Foreign Office in 1948.

She wasn't always welcomed as a peacemaker and Dr Savimbi famously warned 'a stray bullet would find her.'

Dame Anstee also coordinated the response to disasters from the Bangladesh cyclone to Chernobyl.

She recalled tales of her fascinating life in the autobiography 'Never Learn to Type: A Woman at the United Nations'

While retiring in Herefordshire Dame Anstee held various talks about her life titled 'A Survivors Tale'.

She also joined other UN staff in 'Witness Seminars' which were aimed at helping UN development work and took part in military training exercises all over the world."