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, e...

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 wh...

SEPARATING FACT FROM FICTION - & NOW INCLUDING SEASON 5 (RELEASED NOVEMBER 2022)'The most knowledgeable royal biographer on the planet' The Financial Times.Hugo Vickers is an acknowledged authority on the British Royal Family. He has commented on royal matters on television and radio since 1973 and worked as historical adviser on a number of films. He is the author of books on the Queen Mother, the Duchess of Windsor, Princess Andrew of Greece (Pri...

An enthralling portrait of the enigmatic woman at the centre of a now vanished Golden Age: Gladys Deacon, Duchess of Marlborough.'Truly wonderful - a masterclass in storytelling' - SUNDAY TIMESThe Times Best Biography Audiobook of the Year (2021)One of the most beautiful and brilliant women of her time, Gladys Deacon dazzled and puzzled the glittering social circles in which she moved . . .

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 al...

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...

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 ...

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 HessePrincess 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...

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...

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...

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, e...

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 ...