Veronica Buckley (born 1956) is a writer and biographer. She was born in

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

, New Zealand. In 1979 she graduated from the

University of Canterbury The University of Canterbury ( mi, Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha; postnominal abbreviation ''Cantuar.'' or ''Cant.'' for ''Cantuariensis'', the Latin name for Canterbury) is a public research university based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was ...

with first class honours in French with philosophy, and was awarded a postgraduate scholarship in cultural and social history at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

. Before embarking on her writing career she worked as a musician, and as a technical writer and information management specialist in the IT industry. Following doctoral research in Modern History at

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, Buckley wrote her first scholarly biography, about Queen Christina. ''Christina, Queen of Sweden: The Restless Life of a European Eccentric'', was published in 2004, and translated into eight languages. It was rated one of the 20 best non-fiction books of the year by ''The Telegraph''. Buckley's second book, ''Madame de Maintenon: The Secret Wife of Louis XIV'', was published by Bloomsbury in July 2008. It is a biography of

Françoise d'Aubigné, Marquise de Maintenon Françoise d'Aubigné (27 November 1635 – 15 April 1719), known first as Madame Scarron and subsequently as Madame de Maintenon (), was a French noblewoman who secretly married King Louis XIV. Although she was never considered queen of France ...

, who rose from the humblest of beginnings to become the

morganatic Morganatic marriage, sometimes called a left-handed marriage, is a marriage between people of unequal social rank, which in the context of royalty or other inherited title prevents the principal's position or privileges being passed to the spous ...

wife of the

Sun King , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Ver ...

, and highly influential at his Court. In April 2008, the first edition was recalled and reprinted because of erroneous references to a literary work. A press article in The Guardian "exposed" the error, despite the fact that it had already been corrected. The book went on to win a broadly positive critical reception though Buckley was criticised by some reviewers for her interpretation of her subject's religious views.New York Review of Books'', March 25, 2010
/ref> Buckley lived in Paris and Vienna, but currently lives in Los Angeles. She is married to the writer

Philipp Blom Philipp Blom (born 1970) is a German historian, novelist, journalist and translator. Biography Blom was born in Hamburg, Germany, grew up in Detmold, and studied in Vienna and Oxford. He holds a DPhil in Modern History from Oxford University. Af ...

Publications and editions

* Buckley, Veronica. ''Christina, Queen of Sweden: The Restless Life of a European Eccentric.'' Fourth Estate, London, 2004 *Buckley, Veronica. ''Christina, Queen of Sweden.'' Harper Perennial, London, 2005. pbk *Buckley, Veronica. ''Madame de Maintenon: The Secret Wife of Louis XIV.'' Bloomsbury, London, 2008. hbk *Buckley, Veronica. ''The Secret Wife of Louis XIV: Françoise d’Aubigné, Madame de Maintenon'', Farrar, Straus & Giroux, New York, 2009 ;As contributor *Leo Hollis, (Ed.), ''Historic Paris Walks'', Cardogan, London, 2006 *Rainer Wieland (Ed.), ''Frauen schön und stark: Frauen von heute über die Schönen der Kunst'', Knesebeck, Munich, 2009 (in German) *Philipp Blom and Veronica Buckley ''Die Welt von Gestern: Berlin'', Brandstätter, Vienna, 2011 *Philipp Blom (Ed.), ''Angelo Soliman - Ein Afrikaner in Wien'', exhibition catalogue, Brandstätter, Vienna, 2011 (in German)

Reviews and external links

Review of ''Christina, Queen of Sweden'', ''The Sunday Times'' 11 April 2004Review of ''Christina, Queen of Sweden'', Frances Wilson, ''The Guardian'' 10 April 2004Review of ''Christina, Queen of Sweden'', Harriet Lane, ''The Observer'' 2 May 2004Review of ''Madame de Maintenon'', ''The Economist'', 24 July 2008
Professor Munro Price, ''The Telegraph''. 3 August 2008
Veronica Buckley's website

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buckley, Veronica 1956 births Living people British writers British historians British biographers New Zealand non-fiction writers