Justine Dowley-Wise was born in Calcutta in 1926 to British parents who lived an opulent lifestyle typical of the age when India was the Jewel of the Crown of the British Empire. As a young child, she attended boarding school in India and England and later spent her teen years in India in the shadow of World War II. There, in 1944, she met and fell in love with a handsome young British officer, Major Bill Towill, 3/9th Qurkha Rifles, who was with the Chindits, fighting the Japanese in the jungles of Burma behind enemy lines. In 1948, they were married in England. During her life, Justine and Bill travelled to over seventy countries, including a return to India, where as an hououred guest, she attended a royal Indian wedding. Married for sixty-five years, Justine and Bill live in Surrey, England, and have two daughters, Diana and Anthea. Justine and Anthea operate Wildwoods Riding Centre in Surrey.