Anna Keay

Early life and education Keay grew up in a remote home in the West Highlands, the daughter of authors John Keay

Career Keay worked for English Heritage from 2002 to 2012, after seven years as Assistant Curator of the Historic Royal Palaces, responsible for Hampton Court, the Banqueting House, Whitehall, and the Tower of London.

She has served as director of The Landmark Trust since 2012.

She appeared on BBC Radio 4's The Museum of Curiosity in October 2014. Her hypothetical donation to this fictional museum was St Edward's Crown, part of the British Crown Jewels.

She co-presented The Buildings That Shaped Britain on Channel 5. She later appeared on The Coronation and The Queen's Palaces.

Keay is Trustee of the Royal Collection Trust and the Pilgrim Trust.

In 2026 Keay was appointed by Charles III as the official biographer of his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II. She is the first woman to serve as an official biographer to a British monarch. The family live in London and Norfolk. She was shortlisted for the 2022 Baillie Gifford Prize for The Restless Republic. She received the Duff Cooper Prize in 2022.

Selected publications

The Earl of Essex: The Life and Death of a Tudor Traitor (2001, Historic Royal Palaces, ) Elizabethan Tower of London (London Topographical Society, 2001, ) The Magnificent Monarch: Charles II and the Ceremonies of Power (2008, Bloomsbury, ) Monarchy and Exile: The Politics of Legitimacy from Marie de Médicis to Wilhelm II (edited by P. Mansel (Editor), T. Riotte) (contributed one chapter) (2011, Palgrave Macmillan ) The Crown Jewels: The Official Illustrated History (2012, Thames & Hudson, ) The Elizabethan Garden at Kenilworth Castle (2013, English Heritage, ) Landmark: A History of Britain in 50 Buildings with Caroline Stanford, (2015, France Lincoln, ) The Last Royal Rebel: The Life and Death of James, Duke of Monmouth (2017, Bloomsbury) The Restless Republic: Britain without a crown (2022, William Collins, ) Interregnum: The People’s Republic of Britain (2022, William Collins, )