I am a best-selling author and historian, specialising in the Tudor period. My books include Elizabeth's Women, Thomas Cromwell, The Private Lives of the Tudors, and Henry VIII and the Men Who Made Him. My debut novel, The King's Witch, was published in 2018 and the final book in the trilogy, The Fallen Angel, was published in 2020.

I have presented a number of history programmes for Channel 5, Yesterday TV and the Smithsonian Channel, including The Fall of Anne Boleyn, Inside the Tower of London and Henry VIII and the King's Men. I am a regular contributor to BBC History Magazine and give talks on my books across the country and abroad. I work part-time as joint Chief Curator of Historic Royal Palaces and as Chief Executive of the Heritage Education Trust.

My Fellowship was to study approaches to heritage education in Venice. As a heritage education professional, having the opportunity to study in a city where conservation issues are so paramount was invaluable and I was able to apply many of the learnings to my work. Above all, though, the Fellowship provided me with a once-in-a-lifetime experience to study abroad, make contacts and broaden my horizons.