S&S UK lands 'major' Prince Philip biography by Ingrid Seward

Simon & Schuster UK has acquired a "major" new biography of Prince Philip by Majesty magazine's editor-in-chief Ingrid Seward, to be published in 2020.

World English-language rights were acquired by Ian Marshall, deputy publishing director, from Piers Blofeld at Sheil Land Associates, with North American rights snapped up by Peter Borland at Atria. Seward is editor-in-chief of Majesty and the author of 14 books on the royal family, most recently The Queen’s Speech and My Husband and I, both of which were also published by S&S UK.

The book is a thematic study of the life and career of the Duke of Edinburgh, and "reveals his personal story behind the public façade," the publisher said.

Marshall said of the book: "Ingrid has been working in this area for so long now that she knows how to bring the royal family vividly to life, and has all the necessary contacts that can help reveal a telling, new detail that both illuminates and brings their lives closer to ours. As a result of the success of 'The Crown', interest in the monarchy—and particularly in the Queen and Prince Philip—has rarely been greater. What Ingrid’s portrait reveals is what a true renaissance man the Duke is: he was an early and influential advocate of environmentalism, and his range of interests includes everything from science and engineering to religion, sport and business, as well as his important work with the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme. Most important of all was his modernisation of the monarchy, and how he helped his young wife progress from being a shy 21-year-old princess to the commanding monarch she is today."

Seward commented: "I have been keen to tell Prince Philip’s story, as I see it, for several years now. I first met him in the late 1970s and loved that a prince who appeared to be related to most of the royal houses of Europe could be so unpretentious. He is a multi-faceted personality: a man of single-minded self-control who had to walk two steps behind his wife. How he dealt with this, as such a macho character, and what drove him to achieve so much in so many fields, fascinated me. So I decided to find out. This book is the result."