Elena Maria Vidal (born August 15, 1962),[1] the pen name of Mary-Eileen Russell, is a historical novelist and noted blogger living in Easton, Maryland.
She is known for her defense of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette by means of her novels Trianon and Madame Royale, her Tea at Trianon blog,[2] and her 2016 biography entitled Marie-Antoinette, Daughter of the Caesars[3] Vidal graduated in 1984 from Hood College in Frederick, Maryland with a BA in Psychology, and in 1985 from the State University of New York at Albany with an MA in Modern European History.
In 2000, the sequel Madame Royale was published, as well as the second edition of Trianon, by The Neumann Press.
The new historical novel deals with the controversial Albigensian Crusade in thirteenth century France.
In May 1984 Vidal was a student delegate at the Naval Academy Foreign Affairs Conference in Annapolis, Maryland.
In August 2010 Vidal spoke at the Catholic Writers Conference in Valley Forge, PA.
[22] She currently lives in Maryland with her family and has completed a historical novel called The Paradise Tree about her Irish ancestors which was published in October 2014 by Mayapple Books.