Kate Williams at literary festivals

Last checked: 28 October 2026

Kate Williams writes about women, monarchy and the making of historical reputations. Her festival conversations connect individual lives with the institutions that gave people authority or tried to limit it. At Henley in 2026, the starting point was Regina, her history of royal women and power. Her writing also includes biographies of Emma Hamilton and Queen Victoria, and historical fiction.

Quick facts

Best known for: Royal biography and women’s history
Genre or subject: History, biography and historical fiction
Latest book: Regina (2026)
2026 festivals: Chalke History Festival, Henley Literary Festival

About Kate Williams

Williams is a historian, author and broadcaster, and Professor of Public Engagement with History at the University of Reading. She studied for her degree and doctorate at Oxford. Her television work includes Restoration Home, Young Victoria, Inside Versailles and Secrets of the Royal Palaces. She also works as CNN’s royal historian.

Those roles sit alongside a bibliography that moves between individual biography, wider histories and novels. A reader coming from television can begin with a subject they already recognise, then follow the questions beneath the familiar image: how a reputation was made, which sources shaped it and what someone could do within the political circumstances of their time.

The Henley subject gives a clear indication of the questions a book-led conversation can cover: women’s ambitions, the exercise of power and the stories later generations tell about them. A broad survey such as Regina can range across several periods. An event devoted to one biography may stay much closer to a household, court or political crisis.

Check the title before choosing a session. Someone wanting Tudor history may prefer a discussion of Mary and Elizabeth; a reader interested in Victorian monarchy may choose a different conversation. The author’s name alone does not make every event cover the same material. Reading more than one title can help you compare a single life story with a wider historical argument, but it is a choice about the kind of reading you enjoy, not a requirement to complete an entire bibliography before attending a talk.

Where to start with their books

Regina

The 2026 book follows royal women across different societies and periods, from Cleopatra to Grace Kelly. It examines the relationship between their lives and the myths built around them. Start here if the attraction of a festival session is the wider question of women and power, with individual examples forming part of a larger historical argument.

Rival Queens: The Betrayal of Mary, Queen of Scots

Published in 2018, this book concentrates on Mary and Elizabeth. It follows the pressures surrounding two female monarchs, including political alliances, espionage and challenges to their authority. This is the closest reading companion to the announced To Kill A Queen discussion, although the live event has its own programme and is shared with Suzannah Lipscomb.

Becoming Queen

Williams examines Princess Charlotte’s place in the succession and the young Victoria’s struggle for control over her life. The focus brings the future monarch away from the familiar image of the elderly widow. It suits a reader interested in family relationships, competing claims and the difficult business of acquiring authority before and after accession.

England’s Mistress

This biography follows Emma Hamilton through the worlds of portraiture, public celebrity, diplomacy and her relationship with Nelson. It offers a different position from which to consider royal and political society: a woman could become widely recognised without possessing a crown. Choose it for a life story shaped by performance, ambition and the attention of others.

The Storms of War

The opening novel in Williams’s historical family series begins around the First World War. It offers a fiction route into her writing, alongside the biographies and histories. Choose it when you want sustained time with imagined characters and a family narrative. It is a different reading experience from following the argument of Regina.

Festival appearances

For tickets, use the host festival’s official box office. Confirm the date, venue and access details before paying.

2026

Kate Williams: featured events in 2026
Festival	Date	Event and venue	Official source
Chalke History Festival	25 June 2026	Regina: A New History of Women and Power Moot Tent, Broad Chalke	Official programme
Henley Literary Festival	9 October 2026	Kate Williams: Women & Power Gower Cottage Brownies Stage, Town Hall	Official listing

What their events are like

Henley Literary Festival included Kate Williams: Women & Power on Friday 9 October 2026, at 4pm, on the Gower Cottage Brownies Stage at the Town Hall. The conversation centred on Regina and the lives and reputations of royal women. This was an in-person history event. Henley also offered a separate livestream of the same session.

The 2026 event has finished. For a new Henley visit, follow the festival guide for its next dates and the organiser’s current programme. A session devoted to a new book may offer a different subject, chair or audience format.

Where to see them next

Warwick Arts Centre has announced To Kill A Queen with Suzannah Lipscomb and Kate Williams for Wednesday 5 May 2027 at 7.30pm in Butterworth Hall. Its subject is Elizabeth I, Mary, Queen of Scots, and the politics surrounding Mary’s execution.

The venue gives a recommended age of 14+, with under-16s accompanied by a responsible adult. Use its official event page for tickets, access details and any changes. This is a separately announced theatre event; no individual 2027 Henley appearance has been announced yet.

Plan your trip

For a future festival visit, begin with the event you want and its actual venue. Henley’s Town Hall appearance provides a reference for the earlier programme, but a new ticket may name another building. Compare accommodation with the first and final venues on your own itinerary.

Read the Henley visitor guide and stay page together, especially if your journey involves an evening train or a room outside town. Include time to leave the venue, collect any luggage and reach the station. If travelling with someone who wants different sessions, agree the return plan before buying both sets of tickets.

For Warwick, use Warwick Arts Centre’s own travel and access information. A festival stay search does not replace checking that separate venue and date.

Chalke History Festival: festival guide · Where to stay · 2027 programme
Henley Literary Festival: festival guide · Where to stay · 2027 programme

Find a room in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire ↗Paid link: we may earn a commission if you book.

History festivals

Your questions about Kate Williams

Do I need to have read Regina before attending?

You can choose a conversation because its subject interests you. Reading the book beforehand gives you more context for the examples and questions. Check whether an event includes a book, and whether the programme describes a talk, interview or another format.

Is she appearing at Henley in 2027?

No individual 2027 Henley appearance has been announced yet. The Warwick event is separate. Watch the organiser’s programme before arranging a trip around a presumed festival return.

Are the novels part of the royal biographies?

The Storms of War begins a historical fiction series. Regina, Rival Queens, Becoming Queen and England’s Mistress are non-fiction routes. Choose by the kind of reading you want.

Which book fits the Warwick conversation?

Rival Queens concentrates on Mary and Elizabeth, the monarchs named in the shared event. Read the theatre’s full description before choosing your ticket.