Robert Wilton (author)

Personal life and career

Robert Wilton grew up in the south-east of England. He attended Whitgift School, in Croydon, and read History at Christ Church, Oxford. In 1995 he joined the UK Ministry of Defence, where he held a variety of posts including as a Private Secretary to three Secretaries of State (the Labour politicians Des Browne, John Hutton and Bob Ainsworth). His Civil Service career also included stints in the Cabinet Office and Foreign & Commonwealth Office.

In 2006, the new Prime Minister of Kosovo, Agim Çeku, asked the British Government for help in developing and running his office. Because of his Whitehall experience and knowledge of the Balkans, Wilton was sent. He advised Çeku on international relations, communications and administration, accompanying the Prime Minister as his assistant in the 2007 Troika talks with Serbia. Wilton also worked for a short while under Prime Minister Hashim Thaçi. He was in Kosovo for the country's independence in February 2008. In 2010 he returned to Kosovo as Head of Policy and Political Affairs in the International Civilian Office, monitoring and advising the Kosovo Government. In 2013 he was appointed Deputy Ambassador of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)'s Presence in Albania.

Since 1992 he has lived with the writer and educator Elizabeth Gowing. In 2009, together with a Kosovar friend, they founded The Ideas Partnership, a charity that supports the education and integration of children from marginalised and minority communities, as well as working to protect cultural heritage and the environment.

The Comptrollerate-General novels

In the introduction to The Emperor's Gold, Wilton describes how – following a trail that started with a reference in a book to the occupant of his office a century earlier – he found in the Ministry of Defence archives the records of a department or organisation called the Comptrollerate-General for Scrutiny and Survey. Not widely known or well studied, the Comptrollerate-General is said to have existed for several centuries (sometimes with different forms or names) within the British Government's security and intelligence framework. In the Comptrollerate-General novels, Wilton prints documents from the archive to add background to what he calls 'fictionalisations' of key episodes in British history: taking the narrative from recognised history and the archive’s revelations, and embellishing it with conjectured characterisations and scenes.

The Emperor's Gold (paperback Treason's Tide)

The first of the Comptrollerate-General novels to be published (2011, by Atlantic Books through their Corvus imprint) covers the summer of 1805. The context is Napoleon's imminent invasion of Britain – his Army of the Ocean Coasts was camped on the beach at Boulogne waiting for the weather and naval support necessary to cross the English Channel – and the threats to British stability from political radicalism and Irish rebels. The narrative focuses on a man named Tom Roscarrock, who was brought into the Comptrollerate-General at this time and who, through his activities in Britain and France, was instrumental in changing the course of events around the invasion and in resolving some of the chaos within Britain's intelligence apparatus.

The atmosphere of the novel is significantly influenced by Wilton's home in north Cornwall, and some of the events in the book take place there; historically, the Roscarrocks were a notable Catholic family in the district. The theme of identity underpins the novel, and the world of espionage is presented as the preserve of those who cross the borders of identity, society, and loyalty as well as territory. In 2012 Wilton was awarded the Historical Writers' Association/Goldsboro Books Crown for best debut historical novel for The Emperor's Gold.

Traitor's Field

Traitor's Field (published 2013) covers the years 1648–51, at the end of the British Civil Wars – broadly the events from the battle of Preston to the battle of Worcester and the escape of Charles II. Showing how the Comptrollerate-General navigated the transition from monarchy to republic, the narrative focuses around the conflict between two men on opposite sides: Sir Mortimer Shay was then the Comptroller-General, working ruthlessly behind the scenes to facilitate victory for Charles I and, after his death, Charles II; across the lines, future Secretary of State John Thurloe was at this time an up-and-coming official in the service of Oliver Cromwell.

The relations between the main characters – particularly the transition between generations – act as an analogy for wider national events, and the novel illuminates Thurloe's early career and development as a master of politics and intelligence work. The documents from the Comptrollerate-General archive incorporated in the text include contemporary news-sheets and ballad verses, and there are coded messages hidden in some. The novel also seems to include a back-story for a Sherlock Holmes adventure.

The Spider of Sarajevo

To mark the exact centenary of the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, The Spider of Sarajevo was launched in the city on 28 June 2014. The novel presents the events of the weeks leading up to the assassination in the summer of 1914: the activities of four Comptrollerate-General agents travelling through Europe are used to explore the political and espionage context of the time, and the novel also shows the confusion within the evolving structures of British Intelligence (the organisations that would become MI5 and MI6 had only recently been created).

Treason's Spring

Treason's Spring, set in the French Revolution, is a prequel to The Emperor's Gold/ Treason's Tide. It was published on 7 September 2017.

Non-fiction

Wilton writes frequently on the history and culture of south-eastern Europe, including the role of the international community and the concept of international intervention. A recurring theme is the outsiders' failure adequately to understand the local culture and society where they are operating, and the failure to learn the lessons of previous interventions. He also translates Albanian poetry into English, and has published and performed his translations.