Simon Sebag Montefiore. Photo: Simon Sebag Montefiore.

Simon Sebag Montefiore

Historian and author

Simon Sebag Montefiore is a British historian, television presenter and award-winning author of popular history books and novels, as well as a source of pride for the Jewish people.

Descended from a line of Sephardi Jews who were diplomats and bankers across Europe, Montefiore in 2015 hosted a thrilling three-part series for BBC Four, embarking on a fascinating journey to unlock 2,000 years of Spain’s history.

He also has worked as a banker, a foreign affairs journalist, and a war correspondent covering the conflicts during the fall of the Soviet Union.

A prolific writer, Montefiore is the author of several books, including “Jerusalem: The Biography”; “Sashenka”; and “One Night in Winter.”

His latest work, published in 2016, is “The Romanovs, 1613–1918,” which has already received critical acclaim as “the bloody and decadent stories of the 20 tsars and tsarinas of Russia’s last imperial dynasty” and a book that “is like 20 gripping novels in one.”