Sir David Cannadine

Historian

David Cannadine studied history at the University of Cambridge, where he returned to lecture after gaining his doctorate at the University of Oxford. In the early 1990s he became Moore Collegiate Professor of History at Columbia University, becoming director of the University of London’s Institute of Historical Research in 1998. He has been the chair of the National Portrait Gallery since 2005, and currently also serves as the General Editor of the Penguin History of Europe series. He was knighted in 2009 for his services to education.

As a historian, Cannadine principally writes about British history, with a focus on the monarchy. His books include Lords and Landlords: The aristocracy and the towns, 1774-1967 (1980), and Admiral Lord Nelson: Context and Legacy (2005).