Queen pays tribute to ‘irrepressible’ Jeffrey Archer

British author Jeffrey Archer, who passed away at the age of 86 on October 5th, may have readily confessed that his life was a script so dramatic it could have been rejected by an editor. A man of many talents, Archer was an athlete, a Member of Parliament, a political hopeful, a bestselling novelist, and a convicted perjurer with an uncanny knack for reinvention.

Life, like fiction, seemed to run on a cycle of appetites: for wealth, power, recognition, and redemption, and Archer had a knack for satisfying each of these desires. His career in literature began after a personal downfall—financial ruin due to fraud—and his subsequent success with books like "Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less" (1976), "A Quiver Full of Arrows" (1980), "First Among Equals" (1984), and others such as "Kane and Abel" (1979) and "Shall We Tell the President?"

(1986) led to a remarkable turnaround. Despite mixed reviews, Archer's works sold over 300 million copies during his five-decade-long career.

Even as his literary star continued to rise, Archer's political aspirations were checked by scandal. His rise through the ranks of the Conservative party, coupled with his ambitions for high office, ended in disgrace following a libel case and his conviction for perjury, resulting in imprisonment. However, even this period of adversity became fodder for another story, providing him with fresh material for yet another bestseller.

In an interview with fellow author Anthony Horowitz for The Sunday Telegraph Magazine in 2011, Archer declared, "The people who survive are storytellers." Much like his life, Archer's final moments were filled with the dramatic twist that had defined his entire existence.