Sarah Bradford

For the American author and teacher, see Sarah Hopkins Bradford.

Sarah Bradford
Born
Sarah Mary Hayes

(1938-09-03) 3 September 1938 (age 86)
Bournemouth, Dorset, England
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

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

Early life and education

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

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

  • 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

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

References

  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.