Brought up in the West Highlands of Scotland, Anna was educated at Oban High School in Argyll and Bedales in Hampshire. She read modern history at Magdalen College, Oxford, where she won two academic scholarships, and went on to do a PhD on the life and court of King Charles II at Queen Mary, University of London (2004).
Anna’s work as a historian and biographer approaches British history through a human lens, and is deeply rooted in primary research. Her books have included The Magnificent Monarch, Charles II and the Ceremonies of Power (2008); The Crown Jewels (2012), a history of the English regalia from the Middle Ages to the mass media age; The Last Royal Rebel: the Life and Death of James Duke of Monmouth (2016) and The Restless Republic: Britain without a Crown (2023) which won the Duff Cooper Prize for Non Fiction, was shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize and was The Sunday Times History Book of the Year, 2023.
Alongside her writing and broadcasting, Anna has worked as a curator and historic buildings specialist. She was a curator at Historic Royal Palaces (responsible for the unoccupied royal palaces) 1995-2002 and Curatorial Director of English Heritage (responsible for 410 historic sites including Stonehenge and Queen Victoria’s palace at Osborne) 2002-2012. Since 2012 she has been Director of historic buildings charity, The Landmark Trust.
Anna is also a Trustee of the Pilgrim Trust, the Royal Collection Trust and a Non Executive Director of the Big Yellow Self Storage Company. She has an honorary doctorate from the University of East Anglia, and was awarded an OBE for services to heritage and history in 2019.
She lives in London and King’s Lynn, Norfolk.
Anna winning the 2023 Pol Roger Duff Cooper Prize for Non Fiction