Scholar Introduction: Holly Marsden

Holly is a first year PhD student on a Collaborative Doctoral Partnership scheme, studying the life of Queen Mary II of England. Based at both the University of Winchester and Historic Royal Palaces, Holly also works with the National Portrait Gallery and Royal Museums Greenwich. She is currently learning early modern French and Dutch as part of her studies and is very excited to be joining Team Queens this year.

Previously, Holly studied her Master’s in Queer History at Goldsmiths, University of London and her Master’s (undergraduate) in History of Art at the University of Edinburgh. Her research interests cover histories of sexuality and gender, art history, global queenship, theatre history and pop culture, focusing predominantly on the seventeenth century. Within academic and public history practise, Holly is passionate about accessibility and inclusion within heritage spaces, galleries, museums and academic institutions. Previous projects include working with Historic Royal Palaces on their ‘Queer Lives’ immersive theatre tours.

Outside of academia, Holly loves the theatre and has been performing and directing since she was little. She also enjoys yoga, costume parties, long walks and writing. Fun fact: before Holly started her full-time PhD, she worked many random jobs alongside studying and performing and the weirdest was her brief moonlighting as a zorbing instructor.