Hugo Vickers – författare

THE MAJOR NEW BIOGRAPHY OF THE LATE QUEEN: AN INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER. 'Impeccably researched . . . Hugo Vickers offers us his piercing insights into the innermost workings of the Royal family' - DAILY MAIL'His knowledge of royalty and aristocracy is encyclopaedic . . . and his deep emotional connection with Elizabeth II and certain members of her family is given full throttle. The detail about a very public woman who, at the same time, was very private, is so remarkable' - TELEGRAPH 5-STAR REVIEW'The closest thing to an authorised life one is likely to read. Intelligent, intuitive and scrupulously researched' - QUADRANT MAGAZINE'A perfect match between subject and writer . . . The level of detail in Queen Elizabeth II: A Personal History is unequalled' - THE TIMES'Vickers is the Tolstoy of royal biography, creating a vast and detailed panorama, the eccentric footnotes a glorious satire of scholarship.' - SPECTATORQueen Elizabeth II occupies a unique place in the hearts of her people, and in this major biography marking the Centenary of her birth, acclaimed royal historian Hugo Vickers sheds new light on the woman behind the greatest reign in British history. Based on six decades of close research into her life and reign, this master work contains not only archival research and close personal observation but many hours of conversation with those who knew and worked with The Queen. After a supremely happy decade of early childhood, a certain gravitas descended with the death of her beloved grandfather, George V, and the Abdication of her uncle Edward VIII. As Vickers reveals in impeccable prose, she accepted her destiny and worked steadfastly to prepare for what was to come, dedicating her life to the service of the Commonwealth. On her twenty-first birthday in 1947, she made a promise to serve and kept it for a remarkable seventy-five years. She was steadfast and conciliatory and presided calmly over decades of change, political upheaval and family tragedy.Described by the Financial Times as 'the most knowledgeable royal biographer on the planet', Vickers is completely at home in the world of Queen Elizabeth II. He has worked with members of her family on various projects and also met with members of her Household. He first met The Queen in 1968 and had his last conversation with her in June 2022. This is his most incisive book yet, decoding hidden patterns in our most iconic monarch's behaviour to illuminate her as never before.-----Queen Elizabeth II was an instant Top 10 Sunday Times bestseller in the w/c 13.04.2026.

An enthralling portrait of the enigmatic woman at the centre of a now vanished Golden Age of English history: Gladys Deacon, Duchess of Marlborough. 'Truly wonderful - a masterclass in storytelling' - SUNDAY TIMESOne of the most beautiful and brilliant women of her time, Gladys Deacon dazzled and puzzled the glittering social circles in which she moved . . .Born in Paris to American parents in 1881, Gladys emerged from a traumatic childhood - her father having shot her mother's lover dead when Gladys was only eleven - to captivate and inspire some of the greatest literary and artistic names of the Belle Epoque. Marcel Proust wrote of her, 'I never saw a girl with such beauty, such magnificent intelligence, such goodness and charm.' Berenson considered marrying her, Rodin and Monet befriended her, Boldini painted her and Epstein sculpted her. She inspired love from diverse Dukes and Princes, and the interest of women such as the Comtesse Greffulhe and Gertrude Stein.In 1921, when Gladys was forty, she achieved the wish she had held since the age of fourteen to marry the 9th Duke of Marlborough, then freshly divorced from fellow American Consuelo Vanderbilt. Gladys's circle now included Lady Ottoline Morrell, Lytton Strachey and Winston Churchill, who described her as 'a strange, glittering being'. But life at Blenheim was not a success: when the Duke evicted her in 1933, the only remaining signs of Gladys were two sphinxes bearing her features on the west terraces and mysterious blue eyes in the grand portico. She became a recluse, and the wax injections she'd had to straighten her nose when she was 22 had by now ravaged her beauty. Gladys was to spend her last years in the psycho-geriatric ward of a mental hospital, where she was discovered by a young Hugo Vickers.Intrigued and compelled to unmask the truth of her mysterious life, Vickers visited her over the course of two years, eventually publishing Gladys, Duchess of Marlborough, a biography of her life - and his first book - in 1979, two years after Gladys's death. Forty years on, Vickers has now completely rewritten and revised his original biography, updating it with previously unavailable material and drawing on his own personal research all over Europe and America.He once asked Gladys, 'Where is Gladys Deacon?' She answered him slowly, 'Gladys Deacon? . . . She never existed.' The Sphinx is a fascinating portrait of this elusive but brilliant woman who was at the centre of a now bygone era of wealth and privilege - and a tribute to one of the brightest stars of her age. -----Critical acclaim for The Sphinx:A Times and Sunday Times Best Book of the Year (2020 and 2021)'A continuously astonishing and ultimately moving account of a unique figure, the stuff of great literature' Simon Callow, SUNDAY TIMES'Gripping . . . jaw-dropping story, brilliantly told' Ysenda Maxtone Graham, THE TIMES'Mr. Vickers, with his sharp eye for detail, splendidly captures the drama of Gladys's life and the amazing cast of characters she encountered' WALL STREET JOURNAL'The most extraordinary, rackety life' William Boyd, DAILY TELEGRAPH'Richly anecdotal and oddly captivating' Miranda Seymour, FINANCIAL TIMES'At the end of the book the reader can only say, "Whew! What a story!"' Anne de Courcy, SPECTATOR'Hugo Vickers's life of Gladys Marlborough is an extraordinary and tragic story, with special resonance today' EVENING STANDARD

'A pleasure to read... a timely reminder of the need for service' -- The Daily Telegraph'The voices and reminiscence of family and friends merge seamlessly, giving the impression of gathering round the fire on a winter evening' -- The Oldie'A remarkable memoir penned by the Duke of Kent, whose entire life has been dedicated to Queen and country... an insider's account of what it is like to be a working royal.' -- Daily MailHRH The Duke of Kent has been at the heart of the British Royal Family throughout his life. As a working member of the Royal Family, he supported his cousin The Queen, representing her at home and abroad, until her death in 2022. His royal duties began when, in 1952, at the age of sixteen, he walked in the procession behind King George VI's coffin, later paying homage to The Queen at her Coronation in 1953. Since then he has witnessed and participated in key Royal occasions.A Royal Life is a unique account based on a series of conversations between the Duke and acclaimed Royal historian Hugo Vickers. It covers the Duke's upbringing, his army life, his royal tours and events and associations with organisations. Here too are recollections of family members including his mother, Princess Marina, his grandmother, Queen Mary, his cousin, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, and his uncle, King George VI.Other members of the Royal Family contribute their memories, including his wife, the Duchess of Kent, the Duke's siblings, Princess Alexandra and Prince Michael of Kent, his son, the Earl of St Andrews, his daughter, Lady Helen Taylor as well as his cousins, Princess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia, Archduchess Helen of Austria and her brother, Hans Veit Toerring.Containing never before seen photographs from the Duke's private collection and a new chapter on the Platinum Jubilee and the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, A Royal Life is an unprecedented and remarkable insight into Royal history.

A charming account of the life of enigmatic Queen Mary, wife of King George V, and a magnetic portrait of a vanished age'Gloriously indiscreet . . . the best royal book ever' - Harry Mount, Financial TimesWhen James Pope-Hennessy began his work on Queen Mary's official biography, it opened the door to meetings with royalty, court members and retainers around Europe. The series of candid observations, secrets and indiscretions contained in his notes were to be kept private for 50 years. Now published in full for the first time and edited by the highly admired royal biographer Hugo Vickers, this is a riveting, often hilarious portrait of the eccentric aristocracy of a bygone age.Giving much greater insight into Queen Mary than the official version, and including sharply observed encounters with, among others, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, the Duke of Gloucester, and a young Queen Elizabeth, The Quest for Queen Mary is set to be a classic of royal publishing. -----Critical acclaim for The Quest for Queen Mary:'A delightful insight into an eclectic life'The Daily Telegraph'Very funny and astute . . . a loathly feast for royal-watchers'Hilary Mantel, New Statesman Books of the Year 2018'A complete delight, conjuring up, with a few sharp strokes of the pen, a mad, exotic species from a world gone by'Craig Brown, Mail on Sunday

Harold Nicolson called her 'the greatest Queen since Cleopatra', while Cecil Beaton called her 'a marshmallow made on a welding machine'. Stephen Tennant said: 'She looked everything that she was not: gentle, gullible, tenderness mingled with dispassionate serenity, cool, well-bred, remote. Behind this veil she schemed and vacillated, hard as nails.' Who was she? The Queen Mother's story has not yet been properly told. This was partly due to her long life, and the difficulty that always exists when a biography of a living person is attempted, partly because she was a queen - and the real person gets hidden behind the perceived image - and partly because she is hard to pin down. From her privileged aristocratic childhood, to the Abdication and the problems with Diana - this book questions how she faced her challenges and crises, assesses her role, how powerful she was, and how she coped. This is a candid, personal portrait of one of Britain's most loved national treasures. Hugo Vickers, an acknowledged expert on the House of Windsor, has spent seventeen years researching this book, and observed the Queen Mother in public and private over a period of forty years.

Greta Garbo's enduring legend derives from her incandescent performances as a woman in love in such classics as Camille, Queen Christina and Grand Hotel. For half a century her apparently reclusive existence enhanced her reputation as a remote and enigmatic screen goddess.Now, in this beautifully illustrated book, Hugo Vickers tells the remarkable story of Greta Garbo and of the two love affairs that dominated her life: with Cecil Beaton and the notorious Mercedes de Acosta. It is a highly revealing portait of an exotic world - at its centre, an enthrallign and demanding star who gave little in return.

The remarkable, moving story of Prince Philip's mother by eminent biographer Hugo Vickers, updated in this new edition - for fans of Kingmaker and The Lives and Deaths of the Princesses of Hesse'Gripping. Hugo Vickers has pulled off an extraordinary feat in describing the life - in many ways tragic - of Princess Andrew of Greece. It is not an exaggeration to say that this is a masterpiece.' - A. N. WilsonPrincess Alice, mother of Prince Phillip, was something of a mystery figure even within her own family. Profoundly deaf, she was born at Windsor Castle in the presence of her great-grandmother, Queen Victoria, and brought up in England, Darmstadt, and Malta.In 1903 she married Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark, and from then on her life was overshadowed by wars, revolutions, enforced periods of exile. Further crisis hit when, at the age of forty-five, she was removed from her family and placed in a sanatorium in Switzerland, where she was pronounced a paranoid schizophrenic. As her stay in the clinic became prolonged, there was a time where it seemed she might never walk free again. Yet she recovered. Illuminating and enthralling, eminent biographer Hugo Vickers's account of her life is as tumultuous and extraordinary as the times she lived through.-----CRITICAL ACCLAIM FOR ALICE:'Vickers tells this story with a sure touch and an expertise that only he can command' SUNDAY TIMES 'A sympathetic, piquant and well-defined portrait of a spirited woman' LITERARY REVIEW'Sympathetic yet free of pathos, Vickers's life celebrates an unusual and fascinating woman' KIRKUS

The magnetic portrait of Clarissa Eden, Countess of Avon, and a swiftly vanishing age of British history.'A vivid portrayal of a remarkable and unusual woman, her world, and her times. Hugely enjoyable.' - JUNG CHANG, multi-million-copy bestselling author of Wild SwansClarissa Eden, Countess of Avon, wife of Prime Minister Anthony Eden, once famously said: 'For the past few weeks I have really felt as if the Suez Canal was flowing through my drawing-room.'With her impressive intellect and acerbic wit, she was a highly influential muse to many leading figures over several decades.At Oxford in the 1940s she fascinated dons and undergraduates alike. She went on to work in the film world for Alexander Korda and for George Weidenfeld at Contact Magazine. She was a close friend of Cecil Beaton, James Pope-Hennessy, Lucian Freud, Isaiah Berlin, and Lord Goodman. She fascinated Greta Garbo.After an early Bohemian life, she became a politically active wife to Eden when he was Foreign Secretary and Prime Minister, particularly during the Suez Crisis in 1956.Her death at 101 in 2021 has opened the way for this enthralling and revealing biography by the widely admired biographer Hugo Vickers. He knew her well for over 40 years, and consigned her revealing private papers and sharply written diaries to him.Here also are first hand contributions from friends such as Antonia Fraser. Clarissa Eden's story sheds invaluable light on a rapidly vanishing age and an extraordinary woman.-----Critical acclaim for Clarissa:A The Week Book of the Week'Hugo Vickers brings tremendous authority to this life of one of the most significant and intriguing political wives of the last century. The integrity of his scholarship and his deep personal knowledge of his subject make this a compelling and definitive work.' - Professor Simon Heffer'An engrossing and intimate biography of a remarkable and fascinating woman. Hugo Vickers deftly captures Clarissa's enigmatic personality and the glamorous world in which she moved.' - Robert Harris'Affectionate, crisp and gossipy . . . What a lost world this book captures' - Ysenda Maxtone Graham, The Times'A lissom, festive and very endearing biography' - Richard Davenport-Hines, Literary Review'She made Hugo Vickers her literary executor in 1985, meaning that he had complete access to her diaries and letters' - Lynn Barber, The Daily Telegraph'It is hard to think of another living author with such a wide knowledge of Clarissa's world, and Vickers's diligent, skilful biography is unfailingly readable - John Jolliffe, The Spectator

The tragic true story behind the forthcoming film My Duchess starring Joan Collins and Isabella Rossellini'Hugely entertaining' - Telegraph'A page turner' - Times Literary Supplement'Definitively brilliant' - Evening StandardWallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor, died in Paris on 24 April 1986, just weeks short of her ninetieth birthday.Many assumed she had died years earlier, having vanished from public life for over a decade. Yet her death made headlines around the world, prompting a fresh retelling of Edward VIII’s abdication and reigniting the long-smouldering feud between the exiled Windsors and the British Royal Family.Hugo Vickers has followed the story of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor since he was a young man. In this book, drawing on previously unpublished papers and personal testimony, he offers a striking new perspective on one of the twentieth century’s most fascinating and ill-fated couples.Behind Closed Doors is part detective story, part gripping royal history. With meticulous research and a deep understanding of his subjects, Vickers uncovers a drama whose power has only grown with time.'The most knowledgeable royal biographer on the planet'Financial Times'Behind Closed Doors is filled with revelations'Isabella Rossellini‘Hugo Vickers always brings history to life... the reader feels like they are looking through the peephole and listening through the door’Joan Collins‘Fascinating … A beautifully written account of one of the 20th century’s most remarkable lives’The LadyCover may vary

Greta Garbo's enduring legend derives from her incandescent performances as a woman in love in such classics as Camille, Queen Christina and Grand Hotel. For half a century her apparently reclusive existence enhanced her reputation as a remote and enigmatic screen goddess.Now, in this beautifully illustrated book, Hugo Vickers tells the remarkable story of Greta Garbo and of the two love affairs that dominated her life: with Cecil Beaton and the notorious Mercedes de Acosta. It is a highly revealing portait of an exotic world - at its centre, an enthrallign and demanding star who gave little in return.

Harold Nicolson called her 'the greatest Queen since Cleopatra', while Cecil Beaton called her 'a marshmallow made on a welding machine'. Stephen Tennant said: 'She looked everything that she was not: gentle, gullible, tenderness mingled with dispassionate serenity, cool, well-bred, remote. Behind this veil she schemed and vacillated, hard as nails.' Who was she? The Queen Mother's story has not yet been properly told. This was partly due to her long life, and the difficulty that always exists when a biography of a living person is attempted, partly because she was a queen - and the real person gets hidden behind the perceived image - and partly because she is hard to pin down. From her privileged aristocratic childhood, to the abdication and the problems with Diana - this book questions how she faced her challenges and crises, assess her role, how powerful she was, and how she coped. This is a candid, personal portrait of one of Britain's most loved national treasures. Hugo Vickers, an acknowledged expert on the House of Windsor, has spent seventeen years researching this book, and observed the Queen Mother in public and private over a period of forty years.

The definitive and authorised biography of one of the world's most fascinating, famous and admired photographers. Cecil Beaton was one of Britain's greatest cultural icons - not just as a photographer capturing some of the most celebrated portraits of the 20th century but also as designer of the iconic sets and costumes for the films My Fair Lady and Gigi.In 1980, Beaton personally chose Hugo Vickers to be his biographer, entrusting him with his diaries and the entire body of letters he had written - both personally and professionally - over the course of his life. Drawing on five years of intensive research and interviews with the likes of Audrey Hepburn, Truman Capote, Princess Grace of Monaco and Sir John Gielgud, Vickers' biography was an instant bestseller upon its publication in 1985. Exploring Beaton's metamorphosis from being the child of a staid middle-class family to an international figure mingling with the glittering stars of his age, the biography also details his great love for Greta Garbo and reveals his private sense of failure that the success he always wanted - as a playwright - eluded him.

A charming account of the life of enigmatic Queen Mary, wife of King George V, and a magnetic portrait of a vanished age 'Gloriously indiscreet . . . the best royal book ever' - Harry Mount, Financial TimesWhen James Pope-Hennessy began his work on Queen Mary's official biography, it opened the door to meetings with royalty, court members and retainers around Europe. The series of candid observations, secrets and indiscretions contained in his notes were to be kept private for 50 years. Now published in full for the first time and edited by the highly admired royal biographer Hugo Vickers, this is a riveting, often hilarious portrait of the eccentric aristocracy of a bygone age.Giving much greater insight into Queen Mary than the official version, and including sharply observed encounters with, among others, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, the Duke of Gloucester, and a young Queen Elizabeth, The Quest for Queen Mary is set to be a classic of royal publishing. -----Critical acclaim for The Quest for Queen Mary:'A delightful insight into an eclectic life'The Daily Telegraph'Very funny and astute . . . a loathly feast for royal-watchers'Hilary Mantel, New Statesman Books of the Year 2018'A complete delight, conjuring up, with a few sharp strokes of the pen, a mad, exotic species from a world gone by'Craig Brown, Mail on Sunday

'A scary portrait of put-upon servants and potty aristos ... this is arguably the most riotously funny volume published this year' Max Hastings, Sunday Times'One of the funniest, most eccentric books of the year' Craig Brown, Mail on SundayWhen James Pope-Hennessy began his work on Queen Mary's official biography, it opened the door to meetings with royalty, court members and retainers around Europe. The series of candid observations, secrets and indiscretions contained in his notes were to be kept private for 50 years. Now published in full for the first time and edited by the highly admired royal biographer Hugo Vickers, this is a riveting, often hilarious portrait of the eccentric aristocracy of a bygone age. Giving much greater insight into Queen Mary than the official version, and including sharply observed encounters with, among others, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, the Duke of Gloucester, and a young Queen Elizabeth, The Quest for Queen Mary is set to be a classic of royal publishing.

Hugo Vickers's adventures in the world of Cecil Beaton: an unputdownable portrait of a vanishing age, featuring untold anecdotes and thrilling titbits of royal gossip'A fascinating document, a window on to a lost world of glamour, grandeur and snobbery . . . an elegy, sad and comical, to a passing era' - Craig Brown, Mail on SundayHugo Vickers's life took a dramatic turn in 1979 when the legendary Sir Cecil Beaton invited him to be his authorised biographer. The excitement of working with the famous photographer was dashed only days later when Cecil Beaton died. But the journey had begun - Vickers was entrusted with Beaton's papers, diaries and, most importantly, access to his friends and contemporaries. The resulting book, first published in 1985, was a bestseller.In Malice in Wonderland, Vickers shares excerpts from his personal diaries kept during this period. For five years, Vickers travelled the world and talked to some of the most fascinating and important social and cultural figures of the time, including royalty such as the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret, film stars such as Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn and Julie Andrews, writers such as Truman Capote, and photographers such as Irving Penn and Horst. And not only Beaton's friends - Vickers sought out the enemies too, notably Irene Selznick. He was taken under the wings of Lady Diana Cooper, Clarissa Avon and Diana Vreeland.Drawn into Beaton's world and accepted by its members, Vickers the emerging biographer also began his own personal adventure. The outsider became the insider - Beaton's friends became his friends. Malice in Wonderland is a fascinating portrait of a now disappeared world, and vividly and sensitively portrays some of its most fascinating characters as we travel with Vickers on his quest.---Critical acclaim for Malice in Wonderland:'The diaries offer a brilliantly gossipy unofficial portrait of Cecil Beaton and his circle' DAILY MAIL 'I got as caught up in these distant but strangely evocative events as Vickers did . . . delicious in its way, recreating a lost world' Ysenda Maxtone Graham, THE TIMES'A luxuriant trawl through the recovered past . . . extraordinary book' John Walsh, SUNDAY TIMES'A quite brilliant record of a fading social and artistic milieu . . . a world to which Vickers is an unrivalled cicerone' Matthew Sturgis, THE OLDIE'Vickers' diaries bristle with injudicious indiscretion...it is no small compliment to say that the biographer is here the equal of his subject' Michael Arditti, THE SPECTATOR'Beaton himself was one of the finest 20th-century diarists. It is no small compliment to say that the biographer is here the equal of his subject' THE SPECTATOR'Illuminating and brilliantly scurrilous' Marcus Field, THE STANDARD'Scintillating' DAILY MAIL'When Mr Vickers has his eye to the keyhole, we see a secret panorama' Dominic Green, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL'Vickers - as ever - is a warm and enthusiastic guide to a nearly lost world' TATLER.COM

'A pleasure to read... a timely reminder of the need for service' -- The Daily Telegraph'The voices and reminiscence of family and friends merge seamlessly, giving the impression of gathering round the fire on a winter evening' -- The OldieHRH The Duke of Kent has been at the heart of the British Royal Family throughout his life. As a working member of the Royal Family, he supported his cousin The Queen, representing her at home and abroad, until her death in 2022. His royal duties began when, in 1952, at the age of sixteen, he walked in the procession behind King George VI's coffin, later paying homage to The Queen at her Coronation in 1953. Since then he has witnessed and participated in key Royal occasions.A Royal Life is a unique account based on a series of conversations between the Duke and acclaimed Royal historian Hugo Vickers. It covers the Duke's upbringing, his army life, his royal tours and events and associations with organisations. Here too are recollections of family members including his mother, Princess Marina, his grandmother, Queen Mary, his cousin, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, and his uncle, King George VI.Other members of the Royal Family contribute their memories, including his wife, the Duchess of Kent, the Duke's siblings, Princess Alexandra and Prince Michael of Kent, his son, the Earl of St Andrews, his daughter, Lady Helen Taylor as well as his cousins, Princess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia, Archduchess Helen of Austria and her brother, Hans Veit Toerring.Containing never before seen photographs from the Duke's private collection, A Royal Life is an unprecedented and remarkable insight into Royal history.

'A pleasure to read... a timely reminder of the need for service' -- The Daily Telegraph'The voices and reminiscence of family and friends merge seamlessly, giving the impression of gathering round the fire on a winter evening' -- The OldieHRH The Duke of Kent has been at the heart of the British Royal Family throughout his life. As a working member of the Royal Family, he supported his cousin The Queen, representing her at home and abroad, until her death in 2022. His royal duties began when, in 1952, at the age of sixteen, he walked in the procession behind King George VI's coffin, later paying homage to The Queen at her Coronation in 1953. Since then he has witnessed and participated in key Royal occasions.A Royal Life is a unique account based on a series of conversations between the Duke and acclaimed Royal historian Hugo Vickers. It covers the Duke's upbringing, his army life, his royal tours and events and associations with organisations. Here too are recollections of family members including his mother, Princess Marina, his grandmother, Queen Mary, his cousin, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, and his uncle, King George VI.Other members of the Royal Family contribute their memories, including his wife, the Duchess of Kent, the Duke's siblings, Princess Alexandra and Prince Michael of Kent, his son, the Earl of St Andrews, his daughter, Lady Helen Taylor as well as his cousins, Princess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia, Archduchess Helen of Austria and her brother, Hans Veit Toerring.Containing never before seen photographs from the Duke's private collection, A Royal Life is an unprecedented and remarkable insight into Royal history.