SUSAN SYMONS

Susan Symons The Speaker

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Susan Symons gives talks on The Colourful Personal Life of Queen Victoria and The Fascinating Royal History of German Castles and Palaces. She is an experienced and confidant speaker who gets great feedback from her audiences – ranging from experts in royal history to local groups. She is equally at home delivering her talks in person or remotely via Zoom or similar technology.

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Susan believes there are key elements to being a good speaker. The first of these is clarity and diction. She sometimes speaks to overseas audiences (for whom English is not the first language) and to the elderly/hard of hearing. There is nothing worse than a speaker who talks too fast or whom you cannot hear. Knowing your material well is also vital – speakers who read their talks are often very boring. Susan likes to deliver her talks as a drama performance and rarely has to refer to notes. But most important of all is to engage the audience and bring the royal characters and events from history to life. Susan writes her books and gives her talks to share her passionate belief that history does not have to be a dull subject and that royal history in particular is fascinating and fun!

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Susan’s talks are typically 45 minutes to an hour long (including questions) and are illustrated with photographs and royal portraits from her own collection. Recent talks include:

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• Young Victoria – Women’s Institute Avon Federation

• Victoria & Albert – Roseland Arts Festival

• Victoria the Widowed Queen – Probus Ladies Group

• Ernestine Castles and Palaces in Thuringia, Germany – Eurohistory: European Royal History Journal (conference in London)

• Castles and Palaces of the German Royal House of Hesse - Eurohistory: European Royal History Journal (conference in The Hague)

• The Bavarian Royal Family and their Fairy-tale Castles and Palaces - Munich Women's International Club