From biography to history: writing the modern British monarchy

Abstract

This article traces the development of biographical and historical writing about the British monarchy from the ‘golden age’ of Elizabeth I to the House of Windsor. It examines the differences in approach over the past two centuries, in particular, from the uncritical biographies of the Victorian period to the current unregulated flood of material, authorized and unauthorized. Such an analysis goes beyond the history of dynasties and individuals and becomes a history of society as reflected in the changing experiences of the British royal family.