Alison Weir Tours

Dr Alison Weir is the top-selling female historian (and the fifth-bestselling historian overall) in the United Kingdom, and has sold over 3 million books worldwide and done more than 1100 events. She has published twenty-two history books, her most recent being Queens at War, the fourth volume of her England’s Medieval Queens quartet. Alison has also published seventeen historical novels, including the Six Tudor Queens series about the wives of Henry VIII, which was launched in 2016 to great critical acclaim; each of the six books was a Sunday Times top-ten besteseller. Alison’s latest novel is The Boleyn Secret (May 2026). She is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and an honorary life patron of Historic Royal Palaces. In 2023, she was awarded an honorary doctorate by Bishop Grosseteste University at Lincoln. 


After leaving Oxford, Sarah Gristwood worked as a journalist specialising in the arts and women's issues, and contributing to The Times, the Guardian, the Independent and the Telegraph. Arbella, her biography of Arbella Stuart, the first cousin of Elizabeth I and heir to her throne, was the first of her books to feature on the Sunday Times bestseller list. Other books since include Elizabeth and Leicester; Blood Sisters, an acclaimed study of the royal women who brought the Tudor dynasty into being; Game of Queens, a book about female rulers in the sixteenth century; and The Tudors in Love, a ground-breaking account of how courtly love shaped the Tudor Dynasty. She has also written about early-twentieth-century figures from Beatrix Potter to Virginia Woolf, and Audrey Hepburn to Winston Churchill. She frequently appears on television discussing both historical topics, and the modern Royal Family.  Her most recent books are the acclaimed Secret Voices: A Year of Women's Diaries and Celebrating Women.



After graduating in history from Emmanuel College, Cambridge and completing a postgraduate qualification at the Polytechnic of North London, Julian joined the staff of London's National Army Museum. During his time there he curated numerous exhibitions and was spokesperson to the media on all matters of British Army history. He also made three expeditions to Bosnia during the civil war there to collect information and also acquire items for the museum.   Julian left the museum to pursue a career in writing, guiding and lecturing – battles and castles are his speciality! He worked alongside Alison Weir on English Heritage’s Tours Through Time programme, and in 2009 was appointed Development Officer of the Battlefields Trust, the UK Charity dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of Britain’s historic battlefields. He is now a Trustee. Julian, who is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a visiting lecturer on the archaeology of conflict at the University of Winchester, talks and writes extensively on many aspects of British history. He is the author of numerous books and articles on Britain's military history, most recently as a contributor to 'Historic Battlefields in 500 walks' (San Diego, 2023) and as editor of the Battlefields Trust's special 2023 publication on the sieges and battles of the Barons' Wars. He has contributed numerous articles to BBC History, History Revealed and Tudor Places Magazines and has just begun writing for BBC Who Do You Think You Are Magazine. Julian also writes scripts for historical multi-media and audio tours including guides to Culloden Battlefield, the Household Cavalry Museum, the D-Day Story, Winchester City Museum, the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum, and Quirky Cambridge.


Dr Nicola Tallis graduated from Bath Spa University with a first class BA Hons. degree in History. She has an MA in Public History from Royal Holloway College, University of London and was awarded a PhD by the University of Winchester for her thesis examining the jewellery collections of the queens of the Wars of the Roses and early Tudor queens of England. Some of her jewellery research was included into the catalogue of the 2024 Six Lives exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery. Nicola has worked as a curator, researcher, and lecturer, and is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. She has made numerous television and radio appearances, including on BBC’s Who Do You Think You Are?, Channel 5’s The Vikings and The Gunpowder Plot, and Channel 4’s Frankie Boyle’s Farewell to the Monarchy. Nicola is the author of five books, and her latest, Young Elizabeth: Princess. Prisoner. Queen. was Book of the Week in The Times and the subject of a new two part documentary by History Hit, due to be released in May. Nicola has also recently signed a new book contract for an exciting new project which will be released in 2028. 


Dr Michael Jones is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a member of the British Commission for Military History. He is a leading military historian, with specialist interests in battle psychology and French history. He is a member of several distinguished societies in both the UK and France, including the Royal Historical Society and La Société d'Histoire et d'Archéologie de Bretagne. Michael's first book, The King's Mother, a biography of Lady Margaret Beaufort, was shortlisted for the prestigious Whitfield Prize. He has published nine books since, covering numerous topics from Agincourt and Bosworth to Stalingrad. Michael has worked extensively with veterans of the Second World War. He is also the author, with Philippa Gregory, of The Women of the Cousins' War and, with Philippa Langley, of The King's Grave: the Search for Richard III; his other titles include 24 Hours at Agincourt; After Hitler; and Bosworth 1485: Psychology of a Battle. His most recent work is an acclaimed study of the life of the Black Prince. Michael has been a consultant to a number of TV programmes, including Channel 4’s Richard III: Fact or Fiction, the History Channel’s Warriors series, the National Geographic’s Mystery Files and Russia Today’s The Children of Stalingrad. HHe has also been interviewed on the BBC’s Today programme and appeared on Melvyn Bragg’s In Our Time. He also has years of experience in guiding historical tours.


Nathen Amin is an author and Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, and comes originally from Carmarthenshire, West Wales. His work focuses on Wales and England in the 15th Century, particularly the life and reign of Henry VII. He has written five non-fiction history books; Tudor Wales’ (2014), York Pubs (2016). The House of Beaufort: The Bastard Line that Captured the Throne (2017), Henry VII and the Tudor Pretenders: Simnel, Warbeck and Warwick (2021) and Son of Prophecy: The Rise of Henry Tudor (2024), which was named a BBC History Book of the Year. He also contributed the essay on Henry VII to Kings & Queens: 1200 Years of English and British Monarchs (2023). Nathen is an experienced public speaker, having presented more than one hundred lectures to date, and has featured on British, Australian and German mainstream television. In 2020 he was a founding member of the Henry Tudor Trust and in 2024 served as a book judge for the Historical Writers’ Association.


Siobhan Clarke has worked for Historic Royal Palaces for 25 years, delivering tours and lectures on the palaces of Hampton Court, Kensington, the Tower of London and the Banqueting House, Whitehall. Siobhan has featured on BBC radio and PBS Television's ‘Secrets of Henry VIII's Palace’. She lectures for the Smithsonian and is an accredited lecturer for the Arts Society. Her published work comprises: ‘A Tudor Christmas’ with Alison Weir (Jonathan Cape, 2018). ‘The Tudors: The Crown, the Dynasty, the Golden Age’ with Linda Collins (Andre Deutsch, 2019). ‘King and Collector: Henry VIII and the art of Kingship’ with Linda Collins (History Press, 2021). ‘Gloriana: Elizabeth I and the art of Queenship’ with Linda Collins (History Press, 2022).


John Marston has had over fifty years' experience in the travel industry, and he will accompany the tour in the role of Travel Director to ensure that all guests have information on hotels, restaurants, schedule timings, local information and baggage handling etc.. John has worked for major commercial companies including Land Rover, Jaguar Cars and L'Oreal Cosmetics, arranging world-wide travel for groups of between forty to over four hundred. His experience has included planning and booking trips, and personally escorting these groups. For Land Rover, John was in charge of their major U.S. dealer group, looking after a party of fifty executive guests and their partners, and arranging visits to London, Eastnor Castle in Herefordshire, the Duke of Atholl's estate at Pitlochry in Scotland, and Gleneagles Hotel in Perthshire, Scotland. This was just one of many launch programs that John has organised; his priority has always been to give the highest standard of personal attention to guests' needs. John's wife Jo Marston accompanies AWT's tours; her role is to look after guests' pastoral needs and support the team. 
   We are sad to announce that John will be retiring as tour manager after the Red Dragon Tour, but he will continue to accompany the tours, while Jo Marston will continue in her role.

John will be replaced as tour manager by Christine Armour.