Philip Ziegler

Philip Ziegler is one of Britain's best-known and most elegant writers. The author of such classics as Mountbatten and The Black Death, his work is universally praised. Educated at Eton and Oxford, he joined the Diplomatic Service and served in Vientiane, Paris, Pretoria and Bogota before resigning to join the publishers William Collins, where he was editorial director for fifteen years. The Duchess of Dino was his first book.