Elizabethan

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Mary, Queen of Scots during her trial at Fotheringhay Castle – where she was also executed for her alleged role in the Babington Plot (Photo by Culture Club/Getty Images)

What if... The Babington Plot to assassinate Elizabeth I had succeeded? . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Sue Pritchard, curator of a new exhibition of royal portraits at the National Maritime Museum, discusses how wigs were used to convey royal power. (Image from Getty Images)

Portraits, power and royal wigs . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

From left to right: Queen Isabella of Castile; French regent Anne de Beaujeu; and Catherine of Aragon. (Photos by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/DeAgostini/Imagno/Getty Images)

Game of Queens: when women ruled Renaissance Europe

Pregnant woman before giving birth in the 13th century

16 things you (probably) didn’t know about the rituals behind royal births, from the medieval era to the present day

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Elizabeth I

Quiz How much do you know about Tudor Queen Elizabeth I? . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Anne Hathaway, Hamnet and Judith: who were William Shakespeare’s family?

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Ayanna Thompson discusses the history of blackface – a story spanning William Shakespeare, US race relations and Dartmoor Prison. (Image by Getty Images)

Blackface: a brief history . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

French actor Jean-Louis Trintignant holding the skull of Yorik

The wisdom of Shakespeare: 5 famous quotes explained

A portrait of William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare: a guide to the life of England’s greatest playwright

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Nicola Tallis responds to listener questions about the Elizabethans, from the religious rifts of the era to the fate of Queen Elizabeth I’s royal jewels. (Image by Getty Images)

The Elizabethans: everything you wanted to know . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

‘Inkhorn’ was the term for an inkwell made out of a small horn and became a nickname for the new words being created by playwrights and poets, such as William Shakespeare. (Photo by GraphicaArtis/Getty Images)

The evolution of the English language

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Rushton Triangular Lodge was ostensibly a warrener's lodge but the biblical references that adorn its three exterior walls tell a different story. (Photo English Heritage/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

History explorer: Catholic resistance to Elizabeth I . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Buckland Abbey, Devon, UK. (Image by Alamy)

The colonial secrets of Britain’s stately homes

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Paul Edmondson answers listener questions on the life and work of England’s most famous playwright. (Image by Getty Images)

Shakespeare: everything you wanted to know . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Portrait of an African man, c1530 . (Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

The missing Tudors: black people in 16th-century England