Romilly read History at Trinity College Dublin and went on to receive a Ph.D. from London University for a history of the pastoral tribes of Northern Kenya. Romilly spent ten years lecturing at the Universities of Lusaka and Ibadan.  On returning to England he qualified as a Chartered Accountant and became an FCA. He worked in the City as a Director for almost thirty years.

In 1996, some forty years after the death of his grandmother, Euphemia,  he learnt that she had had a brother, sister, half-brothers and half-sisters. This unexpected discovery of a ‘family secret’ started a hunt to uncover Euphemia’s hidden life. The result is an unusual biography based of historical sources, private letters and diaries that provides a unique  and unexpected story of a fascinating life .