Robert Aldrich

Robert Aldrich is Professor Emeritus of European History in the Department of History at the University of Sydney, where he taught as Professor of European History until 2021. He specializes in modern European history and the history of colonialism, with particular emphasis on the French overseas empire, British imperialism, colonial monuments and memory, sexuality in empire, overseas territories of European powers, and the role of monarchies in colonial contexts. His research also encompasses international connections between European and non-European royal families through travel, education, military training, gift-giving, honours, imagery, and court culture influences; the material culture of monarchy in former colonies, especially in the Indo-Pacific region including royal palaces, monuments, and museum collections; and the lives and activities of descendants of deposed monarchs and abolished dynasties in Europe and Asia.

Aldrich is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities (FAHA), the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (FASSA), the Royal Historical Society (FRHistS), and holds the Chevalier des Palmes académiques. His major publications include The Colonial World: A History of European Empires, 1780s to the Present (with Andreas Stucki, Bloomsbury, 2023); Banished Potentates: Dethroning and Exiling Indigenous Monarchs under British and French Colonial Rule, 1815-1955 (Manchester University Press, 2018); Royals on Tour: Politics, Pageantry and Colonialism (edited with Cindy McCreery, Manchester University Press, 2018); Crowns and Colonies: European Monarchies and Overseas Empires (with Cindy McCreery, Manchester University Press, 2016); Monarchies and Decolonisation in Asia (edited with Cindy McCreery, Manchester University Press, 2020); Vestiges of the Colonial Empire in France: Monuments, Museums and Colonial Memories (2005); Greater France: A History of French Overseas Expansion (1996); Colonialism and Homosexuality (2003); and Gay Life and Culture: A World History (2006). He has edited Global Royal Families (forthcoming with Cindy McCreery and Falko Schnicke, Oxford University Press) and contributed chapters and articles to scholarly volumes and journals on these themes.

Professional Email: robert.aldrich@sydney.edu.au