Vincent Archibald Patrick Cronin FRSL (24 May 1924 – 25 January 2011) was a British historical, cultural, and biographical writer, best known for his biographies of Louis XIV, Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, Catherine the Great and Napoleon, as well as for his books on the Renaissance.

He was educated at Ampleforth College, Harvard University, the Sorbonne, and Trinity College, Oxford, from which he graduated with honours in 1947, earning a degree in Literae Humaniores.

The Cronins were long-time residents of London, Marbella, and Dragey, in Avranches, Normandy, where they lived at the Manoir de Brion.

He also contributed to the Revue des Deux Mondes, was the first general editor of the Companion Guides series, and was on the council of the Royal Society of Literature.

Reviewer John T. Alexander called Catherine, Empress of All the Russias, a "facile popularization".