Sir Christopher Wren: Architect & Courtier

Overview

Sir Christopher Wren’s success was underpinned by his consummate skill as a courtier, retaining the confidence of four monarchs through social and economic disasters and political revolution. Wren’s life at court can be minutely reconstructed and shows a man who was first and foremost a courtier serving the architectural whims of the Stuart dynasty.

Taking Wren the courtier as its starting point, this lecture from Professor Simon Thurley uses new research to paint his talents and career in a new light.

Simon Thurley is a leading architectural historian, a regular broadcaster, Visiting Gresham Professor of the Built Environment since 2009 and was Provost of Gresham College from 2020 to 2022.