Hugo Vickers

2 months ago | quadrant.org.au | Hugo Vickers |Mark Powell |Mark McGinness |Marc Hendrickx

In terms of the filmmaker's craft, Conclave is a fine movie.

Dec 1, 2024 | literaryreview.co.uk | Hugo Vickers

Clarissa Eden’s 21st-century counterpart is Sir Philip May. They both married short-term prime ministers who failed in crises because of misjudgements that stemmed from their characters. Both Anthony Eden and Theresa May were hypersensitive to criticism but impervious to other people’s feelings. Eden had explosive bursts of temper while May seethed with tetchy exasperation. Both had politically inexperienced spouses who tendered poor advice while striving to support and protect them.

Nov 18, 2024 | telegraph.co.uk | Hugo Vickers

Clarissa Eden’s mother Gwendeline, known as Goonie, wrote a series of flirtatious letters to Winston Churchill There have been few occasions in my life when I have read letters that have made my eyes come so far out on stalks that it is questionable if they will ever go back in again. This happened when I took possession of Clarissa Avon’s papers, bequeathed to me in her will and in a letter written as long ago as 1994, in which she told me that she left it up to me what I published in due...

Nov 4, 2024 | independent.co.uk | Hugo Vickers

There was something shocking about the way the King and Queen of Spain were received in the town of Pairporta in Valencia when they came to the region to comfort their people. Far from being seen as the royal couple sharing the general grief, they were blamed for the disaster. Stones, mud and abuse were hurled at them. Furious crowds chanted “murderer”. King Felipe VI appeared angry and Queen Letizia was visibly upset.

Oct 21, 2024 | independent.co.uk | Hugo Vickers

When the Aboriginal-Australian senator for Victoria shouted “You are not my King”, interrupting a state ceremony for Charles and Camilla in Canberra, it took everyone by surprise. Everyone, that is, except the King and Queen themselves. The royal couple were unfazed by the noisy intervention. And for good reason. King Charles – on his first long-haul royal tour since revealing his cancer diagnosis earlier this year – has always known that he would become something of a target.