Professor Kate Williams

Professor Kate Williams is a historian, author, and broadcaster, and professor of Modern History at Reading University. Her books include Rival Queens: The Betrayal of Mary, Queen of Scots (Hutchinson, 2018), Becoming Queen (Cornerstone, 2012), and an acclaimed biography of Emma Hamilton.

Video podcastHidden labs, sex gardens & torture attics: secrets of British royal palaces. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A portrait of young Queen Victoria wearing a tiara

The young Queen Victoria’s struggle to gain the throne

Mary Stuart, shown here in a painting after Nicholas Hilliard, might have been a good queen, says Kate Williams, but the odds were stacked against her. (Image by Superstock)

Who betrayed Mary, Queen Of Scots?

Princess Elizabeth 1939

The young Elizabeth II: life before she was Queen

Mary Queen of Scots, after Nicholas Hilliard, 16th century, National Portrait Gallery, London. (Photo by SuperStock)

Mary, Queen of Scots’ tragic life. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.