John Van der Kiste (born 15 September 1954 in Wendover, Buckinghamshire) is a British author, son of Wing Commander Guy Van der Kiste (1912–1999). He was educated at Blundell's School in Tiverton, where he briefly formed a rock band Cobweb with fellow pupil Miles Tredinnick, later vocalist with the new wave band London and subsequently a playwright and scriptwriter, and read librarianship at Ealing Technical College, where he edited the librarianship students' magazine Stamp Out.
His first book, Frederick III, appeared in 1981, and since then has become a prolific author of royal and historical biographies, as well as books on local history, true crime, rock music, fiction and drama. He is also a contributor to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography and Guinness Rockopaedia, and has produced articles on historical, musical and art subjects in national and local journals, including Illustrated London News, Royalty Digest, European Royal History Journal, Best of British, BBC History Magazine, Record Collector, Antique Collector, This England, The Independent and Gibbons Stamp Monthly. He has reviewed books and records for the press, written CD booklet notes, and between 1991 and 1996 edited and published the 1970s rock fanzine Keep on Rockin.
In 2002, he was a consultant for the BBC TV documentary The King, the Kaiser and the Tsar, first broadcast in January 2003. He has contributed articles to the BBC History Extra website, and a chapter on William IV to Kings and Queens by Iain Dale (2024).
In 2015, "I'll Never Walk Away", a song which he co-wrote with Miles Tredinnick under his music business alias Riff Regan, and Steve Voice, appeared on Regan's solo album Milestones. He also played harmonica on 'Cling to Black Leather', a track on The Hell For Leather Mob, released in 2020 by Regan and Voice's band London.
He lives in Devon. Between 1978 and 2017 he was an assistant in the Library and Learning Resources Centre at City College Plymouth, formerly the College of Further Education, where he was commissioned to write a history of the college for internal circulation.
Books
Historical and royal biography
Frederick III, German Emperor 1888 (1981) Queen Victoria's Family: A Select Bibliography (1982) Dearest Affie: Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, Queen Victoria's Second Son, 1844-1900 (with Bee Jordaan) (1984) Queen Victoria's Children (1986) Windsor and Habsburg: The British and Austrian Reigning Houses 1848-1922 (1987) Edward VII's Children (1989) Princess Victoria Melita, Grand Duchess Cyril of Russia, 1876-1936 (1991) George V's Children (1991) George III's Children (1992) Crowns in a Changing World: The British and European Monarchies 1901-36 (1993) Kings of the Hellenes: The Greek Kings 1863-1974 (1994) Childhood at court 1819-1914 (1995) Northern Crowns: The Kings of Modern Scandinavia (1996) King George II and Queen Caroline (1997) The Romanovs 1818-1959: Alexander II of Russia and his Family (1998) Kaiser Wilhelm II: Germany's Last Emperor (1999) The Georgian Princesses (2000) Dearest Vicky, Darling Fritz: Queen Victoria's Eldest Daughter and the German Emperor (2001) Royal Visits in Devon and Cornwall (2002) Once a Grand Duchess: Xenia, Sister of Nicholas II (with Coryne Hall) (2002) William and Mary (2003) Emperor Francis Joseph: Life, Death and the Fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (2005) Sons, Servants and Statesmen: The Men in Queen Victoria’s Life (2006) A Divided Kingdom: The Spanish Monarchy from Isabel to Juan Carlos (2007) Jonathan Wild: Conman and Cutpurse (2009) William John Wills: Pioneer of the Australian Outback (2011) Alfred (2013), revised version of Dearest Affie The Prussian Princesses (2014) Prince Henry of Prussia (2015) Princess Helena: Queen Victoria's Third Daughter (2015) The Last German Empress: A Life of Empress Augusta Victoria, Consort of Emperor William II (2015) Charlotte and Feodora (2015) Dictionary of Royal Biographers (2015) The First German Empress: Empress Augusta, Consort of Emperor William I (2016) Queen Victoria and the European Empires (2016) Daughter of Prussia: Louise, Grand Duchess of Baden, and her Family (2017) Of Royalty and Drink (2017) The End of the German Monarchy (2017) The Dukes of Clarence (2018) Sarah Forbes Bonetta (2018) The Dukes of Cumberland (2019) The Heroine of Gaeta (2019) Hugh Shortland (2019) The End of the Habsburg Monarchy (2019) George FitzClarence (2020) James II and the First Modern Revolution (2021) Ena and Bee: Queen Victoria's Spanish granddaughters [edited by] (2022) William IV: The Last Hanoverian King of Britain (2022) Queen Victoria's Daughters-in-law (2023)