Graduated from Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts with a master's degree in philosophy, submitting a thesis on Ludwig Wittgenstein.
Studied at the University of London where she obtained a PhD in economics.
Read philosophy, politics and economics at St Anne's College, University of Oxford.
Educated at Miss Ironside's School for Girls in Kensington, West London.
Has a son Ruairí.
In 2022 a biography of Dugdale was written by Sean O'Driscoll, "Heiress, Rebel, Vigilante, Bomber: The Extraordinary Life of Rose Dugdale".
In 1958 she was presented as a debutante at the start of the social season. Her debutante ball was held in 1959, which she described as "one of those pornographic affairs which cost about what 60 old-age pensioners receive in six months".