Welcome to my website. You'll find all the details of my books here -- plus links to my latest articles and interviews below. "Lege feliciter," as the Venerable Bede would say -- may you read happily!
Eileen Ford (born 25 March 1922) died at Morristown Medical Center, New Jersey, yesterday, Wednesday 9th July. She was 92.
Peopled with an extraordinary cast of characters, Grace is a rich and riveting story. ‘Racy, crammed with gossip and anecdotes’ said Cosmopolitan. Robert Lacey is the first author to penetrate the storybook façade. Through hundreds of interviews with Grace’s family and friends, he weaves the tale of a complex and surprisingly conflicted woman who created a dream for herself and lived it. Read more at hollywood.org.uk
Grace Kelly, Princess Grace of Monaco, was sheer magic. She was an enchanting confection of charm, vulnerability and exhilarating blonde ambition, and I am delighted that the modern magic of digital technology has made it possible for Apostrophe Books to update GRACE, my 1994 story of her life and loves, with direct links to a unique portfolio of historic newsreels, movie trailers and a brilliant collection of fresh images that have been specially researched and assembled for this first e-book edition. My aim in GRACE, the book, was to bring this inspiring and extraordinary woman alive with words on the page. Now here are the moving pictures that can bring her beauty and vitality alive on your own screen!
Movie legend, princess, tragic heroine. The moment Grace Kelly stepped into the spotlight in 1950, the world was entranced.
In this definitive biography of Hollywood’s sweetheart, Robert Lacey looks behind the fairytale facade to reveal the real story of Princess Grace of Monaco, as she became.
Gaining unprecedented access to her family and friends, he tells the story of a complex and conflicted woman determined to live her dream.
Click here for the publisher’s brief as a download.
9/11 gave birth to many conspiracy theories - among them the suspicion that Islamic charities were knowing and willing vehicles for Islamic terrorism. Robert Lacey examines this accusation with his co-editor Jonathan Benthall, a leading analyst of Islamic philanthropy, and a host of international academics and experts - the proceedings of a conference at Kings College, Cambridge, convened by the Gulf Research Council in the summer of 2012.
Available from any academic bookshop worldwide or from the publisher directly - all contact details on the publisher's brief
The mobile phone is proving to be an unexpected tool of female liberation in the Arab world. In conversation with Dame Ann Leslie, veteran foreign correspondent, Fawziah Bakr Al-Bark, a professor of education at the country's King Saud University, and I debate the state of women in Saudi Arabia.
The conversation is available on the BBC website through the excellent listen again service.
BBC’s The World Tonight -- my contribution starts about seven and a half minutes into the program.
Why was British law helpless to prevent the hate-filled rantings of the extremist preacher Abu Hamza? That's the perfectly reasonable question that the Queen put to her Home Secretary a few years ago, according to BBC Terrorism and Security correspondent, Frank Gardner - who promptly apologised to Buckingham Palace for revealing this fascinating titbit from a conversation he had had with Her Majesty.
"The Queen was at the heart of the Diamond Celebrations this week. But how relevant is she in modern day Australia? Rod Quinn discussed with Robert Lacey, author of 'Majesty'."
Please feel free to download my first foray into Podcasting. It is an interview I did with Australian radio host Rod Quinn.
