STEPHEN BATES was educated at New College, Oxford, where he took a degree in Modern History. He was a journalist for 36 years until 2012, working for the BBC, Daily Telegraph and Daily Mail before joining the Guardian. He reported from more than 40 countries and was named British religion writer of the year in 2005 and 2006. A regular broadcaster, he has also written for the Spectator, New Statesman, Time magazine, the Tablet, the Church Times, History Today, BBC History Magazine and foreign publications. Royalty Inc. will be Stephen Bates's eighth book. He is married, with three grown-up children and now lives on the Kent coast.