Charlotte Bingham was born on June 29, 1942, in Haywards Heath, Sussex, England. Her father, John Bingham, the 7th Baron Clanmorris, was a secret member of MI5 and wrote detective stories, while her mother, Madeleine Bingham, was a playwright. Charlotte was educated in London and then at the Priory of Our Lady's Good Counsel school in Haywards Heath from the age of seven to sixteen. After leaving school, she went to Paris to learn French. She had been writing since she was ten years old and her first work was a thriller called "Death's Ticket."
At the age of nineteen, Charlotte wrote a humorous autobiography called "Coronet Among the Weeds," which was discovered by a literary agent while she was celebrating at the Ritz. The book was published in 1963 and became a bestseller. In 1966, Charlotte's first novel, "Lucinda," was published and later adapted into a TV screenplay. In 1972, she published her second autobiography, "Coronet Among the Grass," which covered the first ten years of her marriage to fellow writer Terence Brady. They adapted both of Charlotte's autobiographies into the TV sitcom "No, Honestly." Charlotte and Terence also wrote three early episodes of "Upstairs, Downstairs" together, as well as episodes for "Play for Today," "Three Comedies of Marriage," "Yes, Honestly," and "Robin's Nest." In the 1980s and 1990s, they continued to write for occasional TV series, and in 1993, they adapted Jilly Cooper's novel "Riders" for the small screen. Since the 1980s, Charlotte has become a successful romance novelist and won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award from the Romantic Novelists' Association in 1996.
Charlotte's bestselling novels include "Belgravia," "Country Life," "At Home," "By Invitation," "To Hear a Nightingale," "The Business," "In Sunshine or in Shadow," "Stardust," "Nanny," "Change of Heart," "Debutantes," "The Nightingale Sings," "Grand Affair," "Love Song," "The Kissing Garden," "The Love Knot," "The Blue Note," "The Season," "Summertime," "Distant Music," "The Chestnut Tree," "The Wind Off the Sea," "The Moon at Midnight," "Daughters of Eden," "The House of Flowers," "The Magic Hour," "Friday’s Girl," "Out of the Blue," "In Distant Fields," "The White Marriage," "Goodnight Sweetheart," "The Enchanted," "The Land of Summer," "The Daisy Club," "Mums on the Run," "A Dip Before Breakfast," and "The Light on the Swan." Charlotte and Terence's first major dramatic success was as two of the founder writers for "Upstairs Downstairs," followed by the hit BBC drama series "Take Three Girls." They also wrote plays for the drama series "Thomas and Sarah," "Nanny," and the drama film series "Forever Green," as well as many single television plays. Their comedy hits include "No Honestly," "Yes Honestly," "Pig in the Middle," "Oh Madeline" (USA), and "Father Matthew’s Daughter." Films written include "All That Glitters," "Love with a Perfect Stranger," and "Magic Moments," while their stage plays include "I Wish I Wish," "The Shell Seekers" (adapted from Rosamunde Pilcher’s novel), "Below Stairs," and "A Change of Heart" (adapted from her own novel.) Most recently, they have collaborated on a new stage play called "Four Hearts," scheduled for production later in 2015. Charlotte has won many prizes for her works, including the RNA award for her bestseller "A Change of Heart." She has a son and a daughter and two grandchildren and for the past 32 years has lived and worked in Somerset.