Carla Carlisle

Carla Carlisle: Wallis Simpson's great gift to Britain? Swapping vain, impulsive Edward for the patience, steadiness and kindliness of George and Elizabeth

Carla Carlisle may be a free-born American, but she doffs her cap to the late Queen, the new King, and how Britain's centuries-old balancing act can trump the whims of political mood in a republic.

Carla Carlisle: The day I rescued The Queen

Carla Carlisle's friends and family back in America are convinced she's on personal terms with Her Majesty. She isn't — but there was that one time....

Carla Carlisle: 'Nixon had a conscience. He experienced shame. I doubt if Trump does'

Carla Carlisle was a fledgling journalist when a piece of Watergate history came her way. Half a century later, she considers the parallels between Richard Nixon and Donald Trump.

Carla Carlisle: My husband sees Zelensky as wise, passionate and a powerful force for historic change. I look at the blue-and-yellow bunting and wonder how many landmines the £1,200 we've raised will remove

An encounter with an eight-year-old diary brings Carla's past, present and future into focus.

Carla Carlisle: The enduring search for Sir Ernest Shackleton's Endurance

When Carla Carlisle discovered that her path had crossed that of Sir Ernest Shackleton — albeit many years apart — it triggered a lifelong fascination with the explorer, his crew, his ship and his official photographer.

Carla Carlisle: 'Truth is a rock. Chip away at it enough and you end up with gravel, then sand'

'I’m not naming names, but here’s what I’m sick and tired of: anarchy, serial dishonesty, sloth, high drama, bar-room brawls even when they are called work, dogma and off-the-hoof populism.'

Carla Carlisle: 'There are decades when nothing happens and weeks when decades happen'

Carla Carlisle on how she brightened her Christmas with music, the perfect balm in stormy times.

Carla Carlisle: 'I felt a surge of gratitude and hopefulness that’s hard to describe. You could call it Thanksgiving.'

A visit to St Paul's Cathedral provokes a flood of feelings in Carla Carlisle.

Carla Carlisle: 'I’m about to expand on my belief that reading fertilises our memories and allows us to visit our past without getting hurt when I see her eyes wander off towards Monty Don'

Books create a powerful connection with the home of your youth, finds Carla Carlisle.

Carla Carlisle: 'Who thought visas that will expire on Christmas Eve was a good idea? The sooner they delete Bing Crosby’s I’ll be home for Christmas from the Department for Transport playlist the better'

Carla Carlisle does her very, very best to stay positive — and just about pulls if off.

Carla Carlisle: 'We took it for granted that we could travel the world and live wherever we wanted... Now the dice is loaded against our children and against the planet. What were we thinking?'

Carla Carlisle on being a pessimist, making lists, and seeing snow for the first time.

Carla Carlisle: 'Maybe we have to accept that dogs share our rage at growing old'

In a heart-wrenching column, Carla Carlisle talks about the sadness of dealing with dogs who don't go gently into the good night.

Carla Carlisle: 'Something happened: instead of celebrating the solitude and bounty, I became haunted by the inescapable inevitability of dinner'

Carla Carlisle took enthusiastically to the first lockdown, but found herself languishing during the second one.

Carla Carlisle: 'This is not a battle between two political parties... It’s like a religious war, with no forgiveness in sight'

As the US Presidential election was taking place, Carla Carlisle penned her thoughts about a uniquely disturbing event back in her homeland: an election in which both sides fervently believed that victory for their opponents would bring the end of the world as we know it.

Carla Carlisle's A to Z of uncertain times: 'Never talk about money to those who have much more or much less than you'

Carla Carlisle: 'I spend half the day preparing for the apocalypse and half looking after chickens'

The death of one of the great people of the Civil Rights movement prompts Carla Carlisle to remember 'a man whose moral compass always pointed in the right direction'.

'It took my son and daughter-in-law a weekend to set up an online shop... In a week, we sold £10,000 of wine that was languishing in the bonded warehouse'

Carla Carlisle's lockdown has taken her farm shop to places she'd never imagined — but now she's there, she's not sure whether it's for better or for worse.

Carla Carlisle: 'It sounds tactless, but I’ve long believed that the most beautiful word in the English language is "cancelled"'

Raging against the lockdown isn't for Carla Carlisle, as she admits to 'a swoosh of contentment' whenever she thinks about how little she has to do — and how nobody will judge her for not doing it.