{{Use British English|date=April 2017}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2020}}
{{Short description|British historian, author and broadcaster (born 1974)}} {{Infobox person | honorific_prefix = | name = Anna Keay | honorific_suffix = OBE | image = <!-- filename only, no "File:" or "Image:" prefix, and no enclosing brackets --> | image_upright = | alt = | caption = | birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1974|8}} <!-- {{birth date and age|df=yes|1974|MM|DD}} for living people supply only the year with {{Birth year and age|YYYY}} unless the exact date is already widely published, as per WP:DOB. For people who have died, use {{Birth date|df=yes|YYYY|MM|DD}}. --> | birth_place = Scotland, United Kingdom<ref name=DrAnnaKeayBio/> | baptised = <!-- will not display if birth_date is entered --> | death_date = <!-- {{Death date and age|df=yes|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} (death date then birth date) --> | citizenship = | education = Doctor of Philosophy<ref name= lister/> | alma_mater = University of Oxford<ref name=DrAnnaKeayBio/><ref name= lister/><br>University of London<ref name= lister/> | occupation = Historian, author, broadcaster | years_active = 1996–present | employer = The Landmark Trust (Director, 2012–present)<ref name= lister/><ref name=LandmarkTrust/> | organization = | agent = <!-- Discouraged in most cases, specifically when promotional, and requiring a reliable source --> | known_for = | notable_works = <!-- produces label "Notable work"; may be overridden by |credits=, which produces label "Notable credit(s)"; or by |works=, which produces label "Works" --> | style = | net_worth = <!-- Net worth should be supported with a citation from a reliable source --> | television = | title = | term = | predecessor = | successor = | movement = | boards = | spouse = {{married|Simon Thurley|2008}}<ref name=DrAnnaKeayBio/><ref name=Thurley/> | children = 2<ref name=DrAnnaKeayBio/><ref name= lister/><ref name=Thurley/> | parents = John Keay<ref name=DrAnnaKeayBio/><br>Julia Atkins<ref name=DrAnnaKeayBio/> | relatives = Humphrey Atkins (grandfather)<ref name= lister/> | family = | awards = | website = {{URL|https://www.annakeay.co.uk/}} | signature = | footnotes = }} '''Anna Julia Keay''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|OBE}} (born August 1974)<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/officers/rrmqKWpei8NGrlZp0zO_STYdYR8/appointments |publisher=Companies House |title=Anna Julia KEAY - Personal Appointments |access-date=2021-05-22}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/officers/xxfBIhOn47LVvOkWJ7fayONpOf4/appointments |publisher=Companies House |title=Anna Julia Keay – Personal Appointments |access-date=2021-05-22}}</ref><ref name= lister/><ref name=DrAnnaKeayBio>{{cite web|url=https://www.annakeay.co.uk/biography/|title=Biography|publisher=Anna Keay |access-date=13 September 2022}}</ref> is a British historian, author and broadcaster. Since 2012, she has served as director of The Landmark Trust.
==Early life and education== Keay grew up in a remote home in the West Highlands, the daughter of authors John Keay<ref name=DrAnnaKeayBio/> and Julia (Atkins) Keay.<ref name=DrAnnaKeayBio/> She is the granddaughter of Conservative politician and former chief whip Humphrey Atkins.<ref name= lister/>
She was educated at Oban High School in Argyll and the private Bedales School. She then read history at Magdalen College at the University of Oxford.<ref name=DrAnnaKeayBio/><ref name= lister/>
She subsequently studied for a PhD degree at Queen Mary, University of London; her thesis, ''The Ceremonies of Charles II's Court'', was completed in 2004.<ref name=thesis>{{cite thesis |type=PhD |last=Keay |first=Anna |date=2004 |title=The ceremonies of Charles II's court |publisher=Queen Mary, University of London |url=https://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/1784}}</ref>
==Career== Keay worked for English Heritage from 2002 to 2012, after seven years as Assistant Curator of the Historic Royal Palaces,<ref name=Bloomsbury>{{cite web |title= Anna Keay (Bloomsbury writer biography) |url=https://www.bloomsbury.com/author/anna-keay-23078/}}</ref> responsible for Hampton Court, the Banqueting House, Whitehall, and the Tower of London.<ref name= lister/> As its Director of Properties Presentation, she was involved in the restoration of the Elizabethan Garden at Kenilworth Castle, which featured in a 2009 BBC television series about English Heritage.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Jardine|first1=Cassandra|title=Heritage TV or a restoration comedy?|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/5172076/Heritage-TV-or-a-restoration-comedy.html|access-date=6 November 2014|work=The Daily Telegraph|date=18 April 2009}}</ref>
She has served as director of The Landmark Trust since 2012.<ref name=lister>{{cite news|last1=Lister-Kaye|first1=Hermione|date=13 June 2014|title=Anna Keay on India, motherhood and the Duke of Monmouth|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/10892310/Anna-Keay-on-India-motherhood-and-the-Duke-of-Monmouth.html|work=The Daily Telegraph|access-date=7 April 2017}}</ref><ref name=LandmarkTrust>{{cite web|title=The Landmark Trust > Staff > Dr Anna Keay, Director|url=https://www.LandmarkTrust.org.uk/about-us/about-us/landmark-staff/Dr-Anna-Keay-Director/|publisher=The Landmark Trust|access-date=7 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171017202710/https://www.landmarktrust.org.uk/about-us/about-us/landmark-staff/Dr-Anna-Keay-Director/|archive-date=17 October 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>[https://www.landmarktrust.org.uk/about-us/our-people/director-hods/ Landmark Trust website, ''Directors'', retrieved September 19, 2024]</ref>
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.<ref name=Qi>{{cite web|title=Gallery 7: Room 4|url=http://QI.com/museum/museum-gallery-7/museum-704/|publisher=The Museum of Curiosity, Quite Interesting Limited|website=QI.com|access-date=8 April 2017}}</ref>
She co-presented ''The Buildings That Shaped Britain'' on Channel 5.<ref name=Bloomsbury /><ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0866516/?ref_=nm_flmg_knf_t_1 IMDB website, ''Buildings that shaped Britain'']</ref> She later appeared on ''The Coronation'' and ''The Queen's Palaces''.<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1650929/ IMDB, ''Anna Keay'']</ref>
Keay is Trustee of the Royal Collection Trust<ref>[https://www.rct.uk/about-royal-collection-trust/governance/trustees Royal Collection Trust website, ''Trustees'', retrieved September 19, 2024]</ref> and the Pilgrim Trust.<ref>[https://www.thepilgrimtrust.org.uk/introducing-our-new-trustee-dr-anna-keay-obe Pilgrim Trust website, ''Introducing our new Trustee, Dr Anna Keay OBE'', article dated November 2022]</ref>
In 2026 Keay was appointed by Charles III as the official biographer of his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II.<ref name="Telegraph2026">{{cite news|first=India|last=McTaggart|work=The Daily Telegraph|title=Late Queen’s personal papers to be opened for official biography|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2026/04/19/queen-elizabeth-personal-papers-opened-official-biography/|date=19 April 2026|access-date=20 April 2026|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=New charity to remember Queen Elizabeth 100 years since her birth|work=BBC News|first=Daniela|last=Relph|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cre1l2q7329o|date=18 April 2026|access-date=19 April 2026}}</ref> She is the first woman to serve as an official biographer to a British monarch.<ref name="Telegraph2026"/>
==Personal life== Keay married fellow historian Simon Thurley in 2008. The couple have a daughter and a son, non-identical twins, born in 2008.<ref name=lister/><ref name=Thurley>{{cite web|url=http://simonthurley.com/about-me/|title=Simon Thurley - about me|work=Simon Thurley|access-date=7 April 2017}}</ref> The family live in London and Norfolk.<ref name=Bloomsbury />
==Awards and honours== * Keay was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2019 Birthday Honours for services to heritage.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=62666|supp=y|page=B12|date=8 June 2019}}</ref> * She was shortlisted for the 2022 Baillie Gifford Prize for ''The Restless Republic''.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |date=2022-10-11 |title=Baillie Gifford Prize 2022 shortlist announced |url=https://www.booksandpublishing.com.au/articles/2022/10/11/221436/baillie-gifford-prize-2022-shortlist-announced/ |access-date=2022-10-17 |website=Books+Publishing |language=en-AU}}</ref> * 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, {{ISBN|978-1873993156}}) * ''Elizabethan Tower of London'' (London Topographical Society, 2001, {{ISBN|978-0902087446}}) *''The Magnificent Monarch: Charles II and the Ceremonies of Power'' (2008, Bloomsbury, {{ISBN|978-1847252258}})<ref>{{cite news|last1=Massie|first1=Allan|title=The kingly touch of Charles II|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/non_fictionreviews/3557655/The-kingly-touch-of-Charles-II.html|access-date=6 November 2014|work=The Daily Telegraph|date=2 August 2008}} ''Review''</ref> * ''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 {{ISBN|978-0230249059}}) *''The Crown Jewels: The Official Illustrated History'' (2012, Thames & Hudson, {{ISBN|978-0500289822}}) *''The Elizabethan Garden at Kenilworth Castle'' (2013, English Heritage, {{ISBN|978-1848020344}}) * ''Landmark: A History of Britain in 50 Buildings'' with Caroline Stanford, (2015, France Lincoln, {{ISBN|978-0711236455}})<ref name=GB>[https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/1889126.Anna_Keay GoodReads website, ''Anna Keay'']</ref> *''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, {{ISBN|978-0008282042}}) * ''Interregnum: The People’s Republic of Britain'' (2022, William Collins, {{ISBN|978-0008282028}})
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{official|https://www.annakeay.co.uk}} *[https://www.cliftonhouse.org.uk/ Clifton House] - private home of Dr Anna Keay and Dr Simon Thurley, occasionally open to the public
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Keay, Anna}} Category:1974 births Category:Living people Category:Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford Category:Alumni of Queen Mary University of London Category:British architectural historians Category:British women historians Anna Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire Category:People educated at Bedales School Category:People educated at Oban High School