Curator and academic Worsley began her career as a historic house curator at
Milton Manor, near
Abingdon, in the summer of 1995, before working for the
Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings. From 1996 to 2002, she was an inspector of historic buildings for
English Heritage in the East Midlands region. During that time, she studied the life of
William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle and wrote the English Heritage guide to his home,
Bolsover Castle in
Derbyshire. In 2001, she was awarded a
DPhil degree from the
University of Sussex for a thesis on
The Architectural Patronage of William Cavendish, first Duke of Newcastle, 1593–1676. The thesis was later developed into Worsley's book
Cavalier: A Tale of Chivalry, Passion and Great Houses, published in 2007. During 2002–2003, she was the major projects and research manager for
Glasgow Museums before becoming chief curator at
Historic Royal Palaces, the independent charity responsible for maintaining the
Tower of London,
Hampton Court Palace,
Kensington Palace State Apartments, the
Banqueting House in Whitehall and
Kew Palace in
Kew Gardens. She oversaw the £12 million refurbishment of the Kensington Palace state apartments and gardens, completed in 2012. In 2005, she was elected a senior research fellow at the
Institute of Historical Research,
University of London; she was also appointed visiting professor at
Kingston University in west London. In October 2024, Worsley announced that she would be stepping down from her role at Historic Royal Palaces at the end of the year to focus on her
Lady Killers podcast.
Television In 2011, Worsley presented the four-part television series
If Walls Could Talk, exploring the history of British homes, from peasants' cottages to palaces; and the three-part series
Elegance and Decadence: The Age of the Regency. In 2012 she co-presented the three-part television series
Antiques Uncovered, with antiques and collectibles expert
Mark Hill, and (broadcast at the same time)
Harlots, Housewives and Heroines, a three-part series on the lives of women after the
Civil War and the
Restoration of Charles II. Later that year she presented a documentary on
Dorothy Hartley's
Food in England as part of the BBC Four "Food and Drink" strand. Her BBC series
A Very British Murder (and the accompanying book, also released as
The Art of the English Murder) examined the "morbid national obsession" with murder. The series looked at a number of cases from the 19th century, beginning with the
Ratcliff Highway murders which gained national attention in 1811, the
Red Barn Murder of 1826 and the "Bermondsey Horror" case of Frederick and
Maria Manning in 1849. In 2014, the three-part series
The First Georgians: The German Kings Who Made Britain explored the contributions of the German-born kings
George I and
George II. The series explained why the
Hanoverian George I came to be chosen as a British monarch, how he was succeeded by his very different son George II and why, without either, the current United Kingdom would likely be a very different place. The series emphasises the positive influence of these kings whilst showing the flaws in each.
A Very British Romance, a three-part series for BBC Four, was based on the romantic novels and sought to uncover the forces shaping the very British idea of 'happily ever after' and how Britons' feelings have been affected by social, political and cultural ideas. In 2016, Worsley presented the three-part documentary
Empire of the Tsars: Romanov Russia with Lucy Worsley in January and ''Lucy Worsley: Mozart's London Odyssey
in June. In September 2016, she was filming an upcoming series A Very British History
for BBC Four. In December she presented and appeared in dramatised accounts of the three-part BBC series Six Wives with Lucy Worsley
. In 2017, she presented a three-part series titled British History's Biggest Fibs with Lucy Worsley'', debunking historical views of the
Wars of the Roses, the
Glorious Revolution and the
British occupation of India. In 2019, Worsley presented ''American History's Biggest Fibs'', looking at the nation's founding story and American Revolution, the
American Civil War, and the
Cold War. During February and March 2020, the first series of ''Royal History's Biggest Fibs with Lucy Worsley'' was shown on
BBC Four; the three-part series discovers how the history of
The Reformation,
The Spanish Armada and
Queen Anne and
the Union have been manipulated and mythologised. In November 2020, the second series of ''Royal History's Biggest Fibs with Lucy Worsley'' aired on
BBC2, covering the myths behind the
French Revolution,
George IV and the
Russian Revolution. In 2022,
Lucy Worsley Investigates began running. The one-hour programme investigates major events in British History, including
The Black Death,
The Madness of King George, and
The Princes in the Tower. On 22 June 2023, she presented
The Krypton Factor-style quiz show
Puzzling, which made its debut on Channel 5, and of which there are 13 episodes.
Writing Worsley has published a number of books, many guides to houses and the like.
Courtiers: The Secret History of the Georgian Court (2011) is her most recent work on history. In 2014,
BBC Books published her book,
A Very British Murder, which was based on the series. In April 2016, Worsley published her debut children's novel,
Eliza Rose, about a young noble girl in a Tudor Court. In 2017, Worsley published a biography of
Jane Austen titled
Jane Austen at Home: A Biography. Worsley also wrote the young-adult book
Lady Mary, a history-based book that details the life of
Mary I, daughter of
Henry VIII and
Catherine of Aragon; it follows her as a young Princess Mary during the time of the divorce of Mary's parents. ==Personal life==