Stuart

Queen Elizabeth II (centre) makes her 2016 Christmas speech (Photo by YUI MOK/AFP/Getty Images). What would queens before her have said in their festive speeches, if they'd had the chance? Clockwork from top right: Elizabeth I (Photo by Imagno/Getty Images); Queen Anne (Photo by Culture Club/Getty Images); Mary Tudor (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images) and Queen Matilda (Photo by Culture Club/Getty Images)

Alternative Queen’s Christmas speeches: what would Elizabeth I and Matilda have said?

Illustration by Femke de Jong

Does it always pay to trust the cash in your pockets?

Circus performer Otto Witte, who in 1912 successfully pretended to be the new king of Albania. (Photo by Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images)

14 weird things that have happened in November through history

A portrait of Henry VIII with Prince Edward, his son by his third wife, Jane Seymour. If the future Henry IX had survived, there may have been no cause for Henry to annul his marriage to Katherine of Aragon and marry Anne Boleyn in 1533, says Amy Licence. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

6 royal births that changed the world (or could have)

Diana, Princess Of Wales, Prince William And Prince Harry visit Thorpe Park amusement park. (Photo by Julian Parker/UK Press via Getty Images)

How to raise a royal… with Tracy Borman

Catholics massacre Protestants in Ulster in a contemporary illustration

10 great misconceptions of the Civil War

Painting depicting Cromwell at the head of his troops following the Battle of Marston Moor in 1644, by Ernest Crofts. (Photo by De Agostini Picture Library/Getty Images)

Oliver Cromwell: the secret of his military genius

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Podcast Website large Nadine Akkerman

Female spies of the Civil War era . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A view of the Reculver Towers, Reculver, England. (Photo by Loop Images/UIG via Getty Images)

8 of Britain’s most mysterious ruins

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Podcast Website large Tracy Borman

Historical fact and fiction . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A chocolate house in Georgian times. Coffee and chocolate houses were popular, and served as clubs and meeting places for business (© TopFoto)

The Georgian origins of our obsession with chocolate

The battle of Marston Moor, the largest clash of the Civil War, depicted in a 19th-century painting. Preventing a slide into chaos required

The Library What sparked the Civil War?

A woodcut print depicting the stocks, a form of Elizabethan punishment. Dated 16th century. (Photo by: Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

“Damn your blood”: Swearing in early modern English

King William II is often overshadowed by his Norman father, William the Conqueror. (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

7 forgotten monarchs

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In this painting from c1650, a witch wields a broomstick as demons and 'familiars' (helpers of witches) congregate before her. (Photo by Rischgitz/Getty Images)

History quiz – witchcraft and superstition . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.