Linda Porter (historian)

Linda Porter was born in Exeter, Devon in 1947. Her family have 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, where she lived for almost a decade, lecturing at Fordham University and the City University of New York. Three of her books have been published and she is currently doing research and writing on a fourth.^[1][2][3]

Since returning to England, Porter has had a varied career. She has worked as a journalist and been a senior adviser on international public relations to a major telecommunications company. But she has always stayed close to her roots as an historian. In 2004 she was the winner of the Biographers Club/Daily Mail prize which launched her on a new career as an author.^[4] Her first book, Mary Tudor: The First Queen was published in 2007. In 2010 her second book Katherine the Queen: The Remarkable Life of Katherine Parr was published. Her third book, Crown of Thistles: The Fatal Inheritance of Mary Queen of Scots" , was published by Macmillan in 2013.^[5]

Porter's biography of Queen Mary I of England presented a view of Mary as a decisive and clear-headed ruler, and a skilled political and diplomatic operator. This was in line with much current academic opinion but presented to the general public an analysis at odds with images left by The Actes and Monuments and other Elizabethan propaganda.^[6]

As of 2014 Porter is continuing to do some public speaking, publication of articles and book reviews ^{[7][8][9][10][11]} as well as doing research for a fourth book.

Porter is married with one daughter. She lives in Kent.^[5]

Bibliography

Linda Porter's Biography of Mary Tudor

• Mary Tudor: The First Queen (2007) ISBN 978-0-7499-5144-3
• Mary Tudor: The First Queen (Paperback, 2009) ISBN 978-0-7499-0982-6
• The First Queen of England: The Myth of "Bloody Mary" (2008) ISBN 978-0-312-36837-1
• The Myth of "Bloody Mary": A Biography of Queen Mary I of England (Paperback, 2009) ISBN 978-0-312-56496-4

Linda Porter's Biography of Katherine Parr

• Katherine the Queen: The Remarkable Life of Katherine Parr" (2010) ISBN 978-0-230-71039-9
• Katherine the Queen: The Remarkable Life of Katherine Parr" (Trade Paperback, 2010) ISBN 978-0-230-74955-9
• Katherine the Queen: The Remarkable Life of Katherine Parr" (Paperback, 2011) ISBN 978-0-330-46080-4
• Katherine the Queen: The Remarkable Life of Katherine Parr, the Last Wife of Henry VIII" (2010) ISBN 978-0-312-38438-8
• Katherine the Queen: The Remarkable Life of Katherine Parr, the Last Wife of Henry VIII" (Paperback, 2011) ISBN 978-0-312-61696-0

Linda Porter’s account of the Tudor-Stewart rivalry

• Crown of Thistles: The Fatal Inheritance of Mary Queen of Scots" (Trade Paperback, 2013) ISBN 978-1-4472-4591-9
• Crown of Thistles: The Fatal Inheritance of Mary Queen of Scots" (2013) ISBN 978-0-230-75364-8
• Crown of Thistles: The Fatal Inheritance of Mary Queen of Scots" (Paperback, 2014) ISBN 978-0-330-53437-6
• Tudors Versus Stewarts: The Fatal Inheritance of Mary Queen of Scots" (2014) ISBN 978-0-312-59074-1

Linda Porter's book on the Children of Charles I and the English Civil Wars

• Royal Renegades: The Children of Charles I and the English Civil Wars" (2016) ISBN 978-1-4472-6754-6

External links

• Linda Porter Home Page

Notes

1. ↑ Porter, Linda. Mary Tudor: The First Queen. Piatkus, 2007
2. ↑ Porter, Linda. Katherine the Queen: The Remarkable Life of Katherine Parr. Macmillan, 2010
3. ↑ Porter, Linda. Crown of Thistles: The Fatal Inheritance of Mary Queen of Scots. Macmillan, 2010
4. ↑ Biographer's Club Prize, Previous Winners - Tony Lothian Prize. Her submission was Josephine’s Enemies. Retrieved 11 July 2014
5. 1 2 Linda Porter's Web Site, About Linda
6. ↑ 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, July 22, 2009.
7. ↑ Porter, Linda. Wearing the Breeches. Literary Review. September 2012, p. 25
8. ↑ Porter, Linda. The Queen and the Welshman. Literary Review. September 2013, p. 7
9. ↑ Porter, Linda. James IV Renaissance Monarch. History Today. September 2013, pp. 10-17
10. ↑ Porter, Linda. The Downfall of Mary Queen of Scots. BBC History. August 2013, pp. 52-57
11. ↑ Porter, Linda. Tending the White Rose. Literary Review. November 2013, pp. 8-10