Paul Preston is Príncipe de Asturias Professor of Contemporary Spanish History and Director of the Canada Blanch Centre of Contemporary Spanish Studies at the LSE. He was lecturer at the University of Reading then successively lecturer in, reader in and Professor of History at Queen Mary College, University of London.

In 2006 he was awarded the International Ramon Llull Prize by the Catalan Government. Among his many works are The Triumph of Democracy in Spain (1986), Franco: A Biography (1993), A Concise History of the Spanish Civil War (1996), Comrades (1999), Doves of War: Four Women in Spain (2002), Juan Carlos (2004) and The Spanish Civil War (2006).

He was decorated by Spanish King Juan Carlos a 'Comendador de la Orden de Merito Civil' and in 2007, the 'Gran Cruz de la Orden de Isabel la Catolica'. In 2000 he was awarded a CBE.