Researching Theo Aronson

The son of a Latvian Jewish storekeeper, he was born at Kirkwood, South Africa and educated at Grey High School in Port Elizabeth before studying Art at Cape Town University, where he acted with Nigel Hawthorne. He became a commercial artist with J. Walter Thompson in Johannesburg, then transferred to London, where he also worked part-time as a waiter. His interest in royalty began when he was a schoolboy. He saw the King and Queen and the princesses Elizabeth and Margaret at a siding near Kirkwood in 1947, and was bowled over by Queen Elizabeth's charm and skill with the crowd. Some years later, after visiting the mausoleum of Napoleon III at St Michael's Abbey in Farnborough, Hampshire, he decided to write about royal subjects. Grandmama of Europe, his seventh book, is generally regarded as his best.

After a change of publisher, he 'was persuaded that dynastic studies were no longer required,' so he began to write studies of the more recent history of the British royal family. (The Times, 20 May 2003)

Charming, highly intelligent, well versed in his subjects, he became known as a devoted, if sometimes quizzical, admirer of British royalty. His research included interviewing several members of the royal family, including Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone (about whom he published a biography shortly after her death in 1981), the Queen Mother, and Princess Margaret, as well as numerous courtiers. All were charmed by the small, dapper man who listened respectfully, had a light touch with flattery, yet was not tediously deferential.

The author of twenty-three books, he also appeared in several television documentaries. In his last book, a memoir, Royal Subjects, he acknowledged that during his career as a writer, 'various Kings, and their families, have proved to be devilish good subjects for me,' and that being 'something of an outsider, unrestricted by the British class system' (Royal Subjects, pp. ix-x), had proved something of an advantage for him in being granted almost unprecedented access to royal circles.

Aronson was the partner of historian Brian Roberts for over 40 years. He died from cancer at Frome in Somerset, aged 73.