To hear a recording of this lecture please click here     

Philip Mansel specialises in the history of monarchy as a political system. He is the author of biographies of Louis XVIII and the Prince de Ligne, of studies of royal guards and the French court, and of histories of Constantinople and Paris as dynastic capitals. He is on the boards of the research centre of the Chateau of Versailles and the Institute of Historical Research London.

Philip Mansel discusses dress as a political force and fear as a basis of dress codes. Napoleon had more elaborate uniforms than other monarchs - and wore more feathers in his hats than Marie Antoinette – because, as his two abdications demonstrated, his power-base was insecure. Germany under Wilhelm II became a uniform-mad country for the same reason; this recently united country was frightened of its neighbours and above all its working class. Mansel suggests that the fashion for modern Islamic dress, so visible in France and England, and the Arabian peninsula, is also due to fear and will also pass. The disappearance of uniforms from modern western societies, and the spread of ‘dressing down’ is due to their prosperity and confidence.

Philip Mansel was born in London in 1951 and educated at Eton College, where he was a King's Scholar, and at Balliol College, Oxford, where he read Modern History and Modern Languages.  Following four years' research into the French court of the period 1814-1830, he was awarded his doctorate at University College, London in 1978.

His first book, Louis XVIII, was published in 1981 and this - together with subsequent works such as Paris Between Empires 1814-1852 (2001) - established him on both sides of the Channel as an authority on the later French monarchy. Six of his books have been translated into French. Altogether Philip Mansel has published nine books of history and biography, mainly relating either to France or to his other main area of interest, the Ottoman Empire and the Middle East: Sultans in Splendour was published in 1988 and Constantinople: City of the World's Desire 1453-1924 in 1995.

Philip Mansel's latest book, Dressed to Rule: Royal and Court Costume from Louis XIV to Elizabeth II (Yale University Press), was published in May 2005.

Over the past 30 years he has contributed reviews and articles to a wide range of newspapers and journals, including History Today, The English Historical Review, The International Herald Tribune, Books and Bookmen, The Daily Telegraph, The Independent and Apollo.  Currently he writes reviews for The Spectator, The Guardian and The Times Literary Supplement. 

He has travelled widely, lecturing in many countries - including the United States, France, Germany, Italy and Turkey - and has made a number of appearances on radio and television, most recently in the two-part Channel 4 documentary "Harem". He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, the Institute of Historical Research (University of London) and the Royal Asiatic Society, and is a member of the Conseil Scientifique of the Centre de Recherche du Chateau de Versailles.

Philip Mansel lives in London and Istanbul.