Biography

Kate Williams (born November 30, 1974) is a British historian, author, and television presenter. She is a professor of public engagement with history at the University of Reading. England's Mistress, a biography of Emma Hamilton, was published by Random House in the UK and US ISBN 978-0-09-179474-3. It was short-listed for the Marsh/English Speaking Union Prize for the best biography of 2005–06, was selected as a Book of the Year in The Times and The Independent, and broadcast as Book of the Week on BBC Radio 4. A film adaptation is in production with Picture Palace.

Becoming Queen, about the youth of Queen Victoria and her cousin, Princess Charlotte Augusta of Wales, was published in 2008 by Hutchinson ISBN 978-0-09-179479-8. It was serialised in The Sunday Telegraph and was a Book of the Year in The Spectator and Tatler. The Times selected it as one of the Top 50 Paperbacks of 2009.

Josephine: Desire, Ambition, Napoleon looks at the life of Joséphine de Beauharnais and was published in 2013.

Young Elizabeth: The Making of Our Queen, a biography of the formative years of Queen Elizabeth II ISBN 978-0-297-86781-4. It was published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson in May 2012. The audio book version is read by Williams herself.

Rival Queens looks at the lives of Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots ISBN 978-0-091-93670-9.

The Ring and the Crown: A History of Royal Weddings 1066–2011, co-authors Alison Weir, Tracy Borman and Sarah Gristwood, published by Random House. Serialised in The Daily Telegraph.

The Pleasures of Men, novel about a young girl obsessed with a serial killer in Spitalfields in 1840, was published (2012) by Penguin Books in the UK and Disney Hyperion in the US, Canada, Italy, and the Netherlands ISBN 978-0-241-95139-2.

The Storms of War, novel published in 2014 by Orion. Set during the First World War, the novel follows the lives of an Anglo-German family struggling to survive the home front. Once popular with their neighbours, they are now shunned by society which affects each member individually. Despite these differences, their effort towards the war on the British side does not waver and through these war experiences they learn some of the most valuable lessons in life and family relationships. A review in The Independent outlines the essence of William's novel, and ends with high acclaim for her second piece of fiction.

The Edge of the Fall, published in November 2015 by Orion.

The House of Shadows, published by Orion on 26 July 2018.

The Royal Palaces: Secrets and Scandals, published by Orion on 27 June 2024. ISBN 978-0-71-126939-2

Royal Women, published by Orion on 7 November 2024. ISBN 978-1-47-462135-9Williams has had academic essays published in various journals and books:

"The Force of Language and the Sweets of Love: Eliza Haywood and the Erotics of Reading in Samuel Richardson's Clarissa" in Lumen.

(Chapter) "Nelson and Women" in Admiral Lord Nelson: Context & Legacy, ed. David Cannadine. (2005): ISBN 978-1-4039-3906-7

"Reading Tristram Shandy in the Brothel" in The Shandean, 16.

"Passion in Translation: 1720s Amatory Writers and the Novel" in Remapping the Rise of the Novel, ed. Jenny Mander.

"The Rise of the Novel" in The History of British Women's Writing 1690–1750, ed. Ros Ballaster. (2010): ISBN 978-0-230-54938-8

(Co-author) The Ring and The Crown: A History of Royal Weddings 1066–2011 (2011): ISBN 978-0-09-194377-6