‘Malice in Wonderland’ // Hugo Vickers on Cecil Beaton

Visiting from the UK, author and renowned speaker Hugo Vickers brings us Malice in Wonderland, an investigation into the whirlwind life of the photographer, diarist, painter, interiors and costume designer that was Sir Cecil Walter Hardy Beaton. Cecil Beaton invited Hugo Vickers to be his authorized biographer only days before his unexpected passing. Undeterred, Vickers used diaries, letters, and precious friendships and connections in Beaton’s circle to compose, in paper, the story of this life well-lived. For five years, Vickers travelled the world and talked to some of the most fascinating and important social and cultural figures of the time, including royalty such as the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret, Lady Diana Cooper, Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn, Truman Capote, Irving Penn and Diana Vreeland. As part of our ongoing partnership with The Royal Oaks Foundation, we look forward to this special reflection and a personal exploration of the a legacy of a man enveloped by a disappearing era of glamour.

If you are unable to attend the event, but would like to purchase one or more copies, please visit Buxton Books here.

About the Book

The witty and perceptive diaries kept by Cecil Beaton’s authorized biographer during his many fascinating encounters with extraordinary—often legendary—characters in his search for the real Cecil Beaton. Vickers was entrusted with Beaton’s papers, diaries, and, most importantly, access to his friends and contemporaries. In Malice in Wonderland, Vickers shares excerpts from his personal diaries kept during this period. Drawn into Beaton’s world and accepted by its members, Vickers, the emerging biographer, also began his own personal adventure. The outsider became the insider – Beaton’s friends became his friends. Malice in Wonderland is a fascinating portrait of a now-disappeared world, and vividly and sensitively portrays some of its most fascinating characters as we travel with Vickers on his quest.

About the Author

Hugo Vickers is well known as a biographer, lecturer, and broadcaster, and is an acknowledged expert on the Royal Family. His first book was about Gladys Deacon, Duchess of Marlborough (1881-1977), in whom he became interested when he was 16 years old. When he was 23, he found the Duchess in the psycho-geriatric ward of a mental hospital and talked to her for two years until her death at the age of 96. He researched in Europe and America and published Gladys, Duchess of Marlborough in 1979. Because there was considerably more material available 40 years on, he revised this book for a new edition, published in 2020, as The Sphinx (and paperback in 2021). It received positive reviews. Hugo is called upon to comment on important state occasions and at times when the Royal Family is in the news. He has covered events from the first wedding of the Prince of Wales, many royal weddings, and the funerals of Diana, the Queen Mother, Prince Philip, the State Funeral and Committal of The Queen, and the Coronation of Charles III. The Financial Times has described him as: ‘the most knowledgeable royal biographer on the planet.’ When he spent an hour with Jacqueline Onassis in her office at Doubleday in 1990, she said to him: ‘You look like a poet, but your head must be full of information.’ Hugo has written many biographies of 20th century figures, including Cecil Beaton, Vivien Leigh, the Duchess of Windsor, Princess Andrew of Greece, and the Queen Mother. His book, The Quest for Queen Mary, sold 40,000 copies in various forms. He attacked the sixty episodes of the Netflix series The Crown in his book, The Crown Dissected, available as an e-book. In May 2021, he published Malice in Wonderland, with extracts from his own diaries about researching the life of Cecil Beaton. A year later, he published a book with HRH The Duke of Kent, entitled A Royal Life. In 2023, he updated his 2013 book, Coronation, and has lectured about the Coronation in London, New York, Washington, Boston, San Francisco, and Sonoma. That year, he gave 44 lectures, with four trips to the USA. Hugo published his first novel, Pining in Paradise, a study of the super-rich on holiday at the Cipriani Hotel in Venice in 2024. Later that year, he published his biography of Clarissa, Countess of Avon (widow of Anthony Eden). When not writing, Hugo travels through the Commonwealth and Overseas Territories, establishing Commonwealth Walkways, and as such has visited many countries from Australia, New Zealand, and Canada, to the Cook Islands, the Falklands, and, as he puts it, was once obliged to spend seven weeks touring the Caribbean. In July 2022, Prince Edward unveiled the Platinum Jubilee Walkway in Birmingham. Queen Elizabeth II visited the Walkways eight times when he was Chairman. Hugo is a Deputy Lieutenant for the Royal County of Berkshire and has been involved with the College of St George since February 1966. He is Captain of the Lay Stewards of St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, having served as a Lay Steward since 1970. In 2019, he was appointed a Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. Hugo has lectured in the UK, the USA, Australia, France, Italy, Denmark and the Bahamas – in the King’s Gallery at Buckingham Palace, at Windsor Castle, in Marlborough House, Kensington Palace, St James’s Palace, Spencer House, Blenheim Palace, and the British Embassy in Paris – as well as on board transatlantic liners and many a village hall. He appeared frequently on Larry King Live between 1997 and 2005, and had his Andy Warhol moment of fame when he appeared with Stephen Colbert in his programme, My Fair Colbert, about the 2011 royal wedding. He lives in London and Wiltshire and has three grown-up children. When possible, he disappears to a tree house in Dominica.

About the Royal Oak Foundation

The Royal Oak Foundation seeks to raise awareness of and advance the work of the National Trust of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland by inspiring support from the United States for the Trust’s efforts to preserve 
and protect historic places and spaces—forever, for everyone. In the United States, Royal Oak offers a wide range of programs and activities focused on the National Trust, British art and architecture, fine & decorative arts, gardens, and history, as well as conservation and historic preservation. These tours and day trips, as well as our Royal Oak Lecture Series, are offered in cities across the U.S. As an independent American not-for-profit organization, Royal Oak fundraises for National Trust priorities and offers Americans a tax deduction for their contributions and membership dues. Overly nearly 50 years, the Foundation has raised and granted almost $20 million to support the work of the National Trust. Projects range from the acquisition of important coastline to restoring historic houses, to helping re-acquire works of art separated from their original properties. Royal Oak also sponsors selected Fellowships for Americans who wish to learn more about the National Trust and the rich heritage of Great Britain.