Sarah Mary Malet Bradford (née Hayes; born 3 September 1938[1]) is an English author who is best known for her royal biographies.

Sarah Bradford
Born
Sarah Mary Hayes

(1938-09-03) 3 September 1938 (age 86)
NationalityEnglish
Other namesSarah Mary Malet Bradford
EducationSt Mary's School, Shaftesbury,
University of Oxford
Occupationauthor
Known forroyal biographies
Spouses
Anthony Bradford
(divorced)
William Maxwell David Ward
(m. 1976)
FatherBrigadier Hilary Anthony Hayes OBE

Early life and education

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Bradford was born in Bournemouth in 1938, the daughter of Brigadier Hilary Anthony Hayes DSO OBE.[2][3] She was educated at St Mary's School, Shaftesbury, Dorset. She won a State scholarship to Lady Margaret Hall, University of Oxford, but met Anthony Bradford, a real estate developer, at Oxford, and abandoned her degree to marry him.[3] The couple lived in Barbados, Lisbon, and Sardinia; they had two children, but divorced.

Sarah Bradford then worked for the manuscript department of the auctioneer Christie's in London, where she met her second husband, William Maxwell David Ward; the two married in 1976.

Writing career

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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 in 1993.[3] She is fluent in four languages[which?][citation needed] and has travelled extensively.[vague] 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.[3]

Her books have been translated into at least ten languages.

Biographies

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  • Cesare Borgia (1976)
  • The Borgias (with John Prebble) (1981)
  • Disraeli (1982)
  • Princess Grace (1984)
  • George VI, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1989, ISBN 0-297-79667-4
  • The Reluctant King (American version of George VI)
  • Sacheverell Sitwell. Splendours and Miseries (1993)
  • Elizabeth: A Biography of Britain's Queen (1996); according to WorldCat, 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[4]
  • Lucrezia Borgia: Life, Love and Death in Renaissance Italy, Viking, 2004, ISBN 0-670-03353-7
  • Diana, Penguin Group, London, 2006, ISBN 978-0-670-91678-8; according to WorldCat, the book is in over 890 libraries[5]
  • Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Our Times, Penguin, London, 2011, ISBN 978-0-670-91911-6

Other books

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

References

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  1. ^ "Birthdays". The Guardian. Guardian News & Media. 3 September 2014. p. 41.
  2. ^ Mosley, Charles, ed. (2003). Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knighthood (107 ed.). Burke's Peerage & Gentry. ISBN 0-9711966-2-1.
  3. ^ a b c d "Sarah Bradford: perhaps I got it wrong about the Duke of Edinburgh, but he does like to flirt". Telegraph. 3 December 2011. Archived from the original on 22 April 2013. Retrieved 2 September 2012.
  4. ^ WorldCat book page. Worldcat.org. 11 April 2011. OCLC 44969524.
  5. ^ "Diana | WorldCat.org". search.worldcat.org. Retrieved 16 August 2024.
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