Linda Porter (born 1947) is an English historian and novelist.
Early life Porter was born in Exeter, Devon in 1947. Her family has long-standing connections to the West Country, but moved to the London area when she was a small child. She was educated at Walthamstow Hall School in Sevenoaks and at the University of York, from which she has a doctorate in History. On completing her postgraduate work, she moved to New York and lectured at Fordham University and the City University of New York.
Career Porter moved back to England, and has worked as a journalist and been a senior adviser on international public relations to a major telecommunications company. In 2004 she won the Biographers Club/Daily Mail prize.Biographer's Club Prize, Previous Winners - Tony Lothian Prize. Her submission was Josephine’s Enemies. Retrieved 11 July 2014 Her first book, Mary Tudor: The First Queen was published in 2007. It was a biography of Queen Mary I of England presented a little-known view of Mary as a decisive and clear-headed ruler, and a skilled political and diplomatic operator.Marshall, Peter. Not a real queen? What do historians have against England's earliest Queen regnant - a decisive and clear-headed ruler? The Times Literary Supplement, 22 July 2009.
In 2010, her second book Katherine the Queen: The Remarkable Life of Katherine Parr was published.Linda Porter's Web Site, Text by Dr. Porter. This biography of Katherine Parr detailed her life as a queen and stepmother.
Her third book, Crown of Thistles: The Fatal Inheritance of Mary Queen of Scots, was published by Macmillan in 2013.Linda Porter's Web Site, About Linda.Linda Porter's Web Site, Text by Dr. Porter. It tells the story of a divided family and how Scotland and England because one nation.
In 2014 Porter continued to do public speaking and published articles and book reviewsPorter, Linda. Wearing the Breeches. Literary Review. September 2012, p. 25Porter, Linda. The Queen and the Welshman. Literary Review. September 2013, p. 7Porter, Linda. James IV Renaissance Monarch. History Today. September 2013, pp. 10-17Porter, Linda. The Downfall of Mary Queen of Scots. BBC History. August 2013, pp. 52-57Porter, Linda. Tending the White Rose. Literary Review. November 2013, pp. 8-10 as well as doing research for a fourth book.
Porter's fourth book, Royal Renegades: The Children of Charles I and the English Civil Wars follows the lives of Charles I’s family.Linda Porter's Web Site, Text by Dr. Porter.
The author’s fifth book, Mistresses: Sex and Scandal at the Court of Charles II, was published in the UK on 16 April 2020.
In 2024, Porter featured at the Caterham History Festival at Caterham School alongside the historians Sir Richard Evans, Geoffrey Hosking and Clare Jackson.
Personal life Porter is married and has one daughter. She lives in Kent.
Published works Mary Tudor: The First Queen (2007) The First Queen of England: The Myth of "Bloody Mary (2008) Katherine the Queen: The Remarkable Life of Katherine Parr (2010) Katherine the Queen: The Remarkable Life of Katherine Parr, the Last Wife of Henry VIII (2010) Crown of Thistles: The Fatal Inheritance of Mary Queen of Scots (2013) Tudors Versus Stewarts: The Fatal Inheritance of Mary Queen of Scots (2014) Royal Renegades: The Children of Charles I and the English Civil Wars (2016) Mistresses: Sex and Scandal at the Court of Charles II (2020) The Thistle and The Rose: The Extraordinary Life of Margaret Tudor (2024)
References
External links Linda Porter Home Page