At the end of the week you have to be an expert and present your argument to the supervisor face to face. At the beginning of the week we were presented with a proposition about what you know virtually nothing. I suppose when I look back on it, Cambridge was a very good preparation for what I do now in terms of the tutorial system of history. I loved reading the great English and American writers. I always enjoyed writing-mostly historical. When did you realize you were passionate enough about writing to make it into a career?

I just wanted to start off by asking you a very simple question. He is the lead historian for the Netflix series The Crown. Robert’s many other books include biographies of the gangster Meyer Lansky, Henry Ford, Princess Grace of Monaco, and a study of Sotheby’s auction house. Like The Kingdom, his follow up Inside the Kingdom has been banned from distribution in Saudi Arabia by the Ministry of Culture and Information. The Kingdom, a study of Saudi Arabia published in 1981, is similarly acknowledged as required reading for businessmen, diplomats, and students all over the world when traveling to or studying the subject of Saudi Arabia. Published in 1977, Majesty-his pioneering biography of Queen Elizabeth II-remains acknowledged as the definitive study of British monarchy. Robert Lacey is a British historian and the author of numerous international bestsellers. We selected five such conversations-with illustrator Ella Paton, author and science communicator Kat Arney, filmmaker Rob Petit, historian (and consultant to the Netflix series The Crown) Robert Lacey, and toy designer Luc Hudson-to enlighten us as to what they do, why, and how they found their creative voice within the cultural crossroads that is London, England. Interviewer and author Lily Hansen takes conversation with others from chore to professional vocation, and as oral historian Studs Terkel put it, talks with creative people “about what they do all day and how they feel about what they do.” In this limited series, Design Observer features conversations with creatives that have gained a foothold within the bustling London design community.

Grace by Robert Lacey