Veronica Buckley

Who is Veronica Buckley?

Veronica Buckley is a writer and biographer. She was born in Christchurch, New Zealand. In 1979 she graduated from the University of Canterbury with first class honours in French with philosophy, and was awarded a postgraduate scholarship in cultural and social history at the University of London. 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, Veronica 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, who rose from the humblest of beginnings to become the morganatic wife of the Sun King, 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.