Kate Williams (historian)

Kate Williams (born November 30, 1974) is a British historian, author, and television presenter. She is a professor of public engagement with history at the University of Reading.

Early life and education
Williams grew up in Stourbridge. Her father, Gwyn, was a solicitor and her mother, Margaret, was a teacher. Her paternal grandparents were from the Conwy Valley. She was educated at Edgbaston High School for Girls, Birmingham. She studied for her BA and DPhil at Somerville College, Oxford, where she started as a college scholar and received the Violet Vaughan Morgan University Scholarship. She has MAs from Queen Mary, University of London and Royal Holloway, University of London. She began researching Emma Hamilton while studying for her doctorate.

Career
Williams has lectured MA degree studies in Creative Writing at Royal Holloway, University of London. In the summer of 2015, Williams took up a role as Professor of Public Engagement with History at the University of Reading.

Journalism and other work
Williams writes articles on history for British newspapers including The Daily Telegraph, and reviews for BBC History, History Today and the Financial Times.

In 2010, she was a judge for the Biographer's Club Tony Lothian First Biography Prize, the Book Drum Tournament 2010, and the Litro/IGGY International Young Person's Short Story Award.

A short story, "The Weakness of Hearts", was published in issue 104 of Litro literary magazine.

Television and radio
Williams appears frequently on radio and TV as a presenter and expert, specialising in social, constitutional and royal history. She commented extensively on the 2011 Royal Wedding and appears often on BBC Breakfast, Newsnight, The Review Show, Sky News, BBC News 24, the Today programme, Broadcasting House, Night Waves, Woman's Hour, Channel Five and various American channels, discussing history and culture and reviewing the news. She covered the Queen's Address to Parliament on BBC One in 2012 and the Queen's Speech for BBC Parliament.

Williams was the social historian on the BBC Two series Restoration Home, which aired from 2011 to 2013. She presented Timewatch: Young Victoria for BBC Two, acclaimed by The Guardian as "telly history at its best" and The Secret History of Edward VII for Channel Five. She appears often on documentaries, discussing history, literature and culture, including Faulks on Fiction and all three series of The Great British Bake Off, as well as documentaries on subjects including Queen Victoria, Balmoral, Sherlock Holmes, Jack the Ripper, Nelson's Trafalgar, Elizabeth II and Hidden Killers of the Victorian Home.

She wrote and presented the documentary The Grandfather of Self-Help, about Samuel Smiles, for Radio 4. She is also the presenter of a Radio 4 documentary on the history of the smile, broadcast in June 2012. Williams was the historian in residence in Frank Skinner's 2014 radio show The Rest Is History. Williams was a regular panellist on The Quizeum, which began airing on BBC4 in spring 2015. Williams was the winner of Celebrity Mastermind which screened on 2 January 2016.

She also featured on episodes of Insert Name Here broadcast on 4 and 25 of January 2016 on BBC Two, and again in four episodes of the second series of Insert Name Here commencing with the Christmas Special on 21 December 2016. Williams appeared in the online mini-series Inside Versailles based on the BBC Television series Versailles. She also appeared in an episode of BBC One comedy panel show Would I Lie To You? in 2016. She was in Dictionary Corner on Countdown for five shows starting 6 October 2016. On 13 December 2016 she appeared as a contestant on Celebrity Antiques Road Trip, partnered with Catherine Southon, against Suzannah Lipscomb and David Harper.

Williams and team member Robin Ince were winners of Pointless Celebrities broadcast on 13 January 2018. In 2020 Williams appeared on Richard Osman's House of Games, broadcast on BBC Two, alongside Chizzy Akudolu, Charlie Higson, and Tom Allen.

In August 2023, Williams appeared in Elizabeth II: Making of a Monarch; a two-part documentary that aired on Channel 4.

Williams was the highest ranked celebrity expert on an episode of the game show The Wheel, which aired on 21 October 2023.

Personal life
Williams and her partner, publisher Marcus Gipps, have a child.