Sarah Mary Malet Bradford (''née'' Hayes; born 3 September 1938) is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

author who is best known for her royal biographies.

Early life and education

Bradford was born in

Bournemouth Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the English ...

in 1938, the daughter of Brigadier Hilary Anthony Hayes . She was educated at

St Mary's School, Shaftesbury St Mary's School was an Independent school (UK), independent Roman Catholic day and boarding school for girls, founded in 1945 in a rural setting near Shaftesbury, England. The school had a sixth form and was a member of the Girls' Schools Assoc ...

, Dorset. She won a State scholarship to

Lady Margaret Hall Lady Margaret Hall (LMH) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England, located on the banks of the River Cherwell at Norham Gardens in north Oxford and adjacent to the University Parks. The college is more form ...

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, but met Anthony Bradford, a real estate developer, at Oxford, and abandoned her degree to marry him. The couple lived in

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estima ...

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administrative limits w ...

, and

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label= Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, aft ...

; they had two children, but divorced. Sarah Bradford then worked for the manuscript department of the auctioneer

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is owned by Groupe Artémi ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, where she met her second husband, William Maxwell David Ward; the two married in 1976.

Writing career

She began her career as a writer with her first book, ''The Englishman's Wine'', written while she lived in Portugal. She has now published more than a dozen major works. Her husband became 8th

Viscount Bangor Viscount Bangor, of Castle Ward, in County Down, is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. History The title was created in January 1781 for Bernard Ward, 1st Baron Bangor, who had previously represented Down in the Irish House of Commons. He h ...

in 1993. She is fluent in four languages and has travelled extensively. The couple live in London. Bradford was interviewed in connection with the 1994 edition of the PBS video ''The Windsors: A Royal Family'' and with the 2007 BBC documentary ''Gladstone and Disraeli'' (presented by Huw Edwards), and assisted with the screenwriting for '' The Borgias'', a 2011 television series. In 2012, she was working on a biography of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previ ...

. Her books have been translated into at least ten languages.WorldCat book page
WorldCat author page

Biographies

* ''Cesare Borgia'' (1976) * ''The Borgias'' (with John Prebble) (1981) * ''Disraeli'' (1982) * ''Princess Grace'' (1984) * ''George VI'', Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1989, * ''The Reluctant King'' (American version of ''George VI'') * ''

Sacheverell Sitwell Sir Sacheverell Reresby Sitwell, 6th Baronet, (; 15 November 1897 – 1 October 1988) was an English writer, best known as an art critic, music critic (his books on Mozart, Liszt, and Domenico Scarlatti are still consulted), and writer on a ...

. Splendours and Miseries'' (1993) * ''Elizabeth: A Biography of Britain's Queen'' (1996); according to

WorldCat WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the O ...

, the book is in over 1760 libraries * ''America's Queen: The Life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis'' (2000); according to WorldCat, the book is in over 1650 libraries * ''Lucrezia Borgia: Life, Love and Death in Renaissance Italy'', Viking, 2004, * ''Diana'', Penguin Group, London, 2006, ; according to WorldCat, the book is in over 890 librariesWorldCat book page
/ref> * ''Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Our Times'', Penguin, London, 2011,

Other books

* ''The Englishman's Wine: The Story of Port'' (1969) * ''Portugal and Madeira'' (1969) * ''Portugal'' (1973)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bradford, Sarah 1938 births Living people Alumni of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford Writers from Bournemouth People educated at St Mary's School, Shaftesbury 20th-century English historians 21st-century English historians 20th-century English biographers 21st-century biographers 20th-century English women writers 21st-century English women writers British women historians British women biographers