Educated at Perse School for Girls in Cambridge, Caroline Hamilton went on to Girton College, Cambridge. She became a successful businesswoman, first as an investment banker then as a director of international television and film projects.
Her natural ability to lead and succeed became evident to the public in1997 as the leader and driving force behind the first all-woman relay to the North Pole. In 2000 she returned to the icy landscapes as the leader of the first British all-woman expedition to the South Pole.
But it was on 2 June 2002 that she and her friend, Ann Daniels, made polar history. After 81 days in temperatures as low as minus 50 degrees centigrade, hauling heavy sledges across 500 miles of ice and snow, they reached the North Pole. It made them the first all-female team to successfully trek to both poles.