The Crown versus "The Crown": Exploring Image and Reality in the British Monarchy
Andrew Morton is one of the world’s best-known and successful biographers. Not only is he an acknowledged authority on British and European royalty but he has written numerous New York Times number one best sellers on modern celebrities such as Tom Cruise, Angelina Jolie, and Madonna.
His sensational account of Princess Diana’s life, written with her full cooperation, changed for forever the way the world viewed the royal family. The biography, called Diana, Her True Story, was an international smash, translated into 35 languages and inspiring numerous films, documentaries and commentaries. As Tina Brown declared in The Diana Chronicles: ‘The journalist Morton most reminds me of is Bob Woodward.’.
His book, 17 Carnations, about the links between the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and the Nazis, was another New York Times bestseller, Morton vividly illuminating a dark corner of royal history. Morton's biography of the Duchess of Windsor, called Wallis in Love, gave a very different perspective on the ‘royal romance of the century,’ with striking insights based on a treasure trove of hitherto unseen documents. Morton’s biography, Meghan: A Hollywood Princess, examined how a girl from Woodland Hills challenged the British monarchy. His last two biographies focused on the relationship between the Queen and her younger sister, Princess Margaret and most recently, with The Queen: Her Life, he took a very personal look at the impact Her Majesty the Queen had on his own life - and the wider world.
Jonathan Petropoulos is the John V. Croul Professor of European History at CMC, where he has taught since 1999. He is the author of five monographs, including Royals and the Reich: The Princes von Hessen in Nazi Germany (Oxford UP, 2008) and most recently, Goering's Man in Paris: The Story of a Nazi Art Plunderer and His World (Yale UP, 2021).