After leaving Loretto School in Edinburgh, Clare graduated in History from Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. She then researched an MPhil in History at Aberystwyth University, before returning to Cambridge where she completed a PhD on royalist ideas in seventeenth-century Scotland at Sidney Sussex College and became a Postdoctoral Research Fellow. After moving to Trinity Hall as Director of Studies in History, she became Senior Tutor of Trinity Hall in October 2013.
Clare’s main interests lie in early modern British political, religious, legal and cultural history. She was Editor of the ‘Historical Journal’ from 2004 to 2011 and her biography, ‘Charles II: The Star King’ was published by Penguin in March 2016. She has appeared regularly on Melvyn Bragg’s ‘In our Time’ on BBC Radio 4 and presented a three-part BBC2 television series on ‘The Stuarts’ in 2014 and a two-part sequel series on ‘The Stuarts in Exile’ in 2015, which are regularly repeated on BBC i-player, PBS, London Live and other channels. Her latest book, ‘Devil-Land: England Under Siege 1588-1688’ will be published by Penguin in September 2021.
Books in order of publication:
Restoration Scotland, 1660-1690. Royalist politics, religion, and ideas – 2002
Charles II: The Star King’ – 2016
Devil-Land: England Under Siege, 1588-1688 – 2021
Oak Lawn Library Friends 