Kings and queens

Black and white image of a group of five men sat on the floor in a room in Fiji. One of them is pointing at another with a serious expression on his face.

Cakobau: the first (and last) king of Fiji

Anne of Denmark, wife of James I of England

Anne of Denmark: a killer queen?

A bas relief fragment portraying Cleopatra

The female ‘kings’ of ancient Egypt

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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.

A portrait of Katherine Parr in a jewelled head dress and finery

Q&A What happened to Katherine Parr’s daughter, Mary Seymour, after her mother’s death?

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Norman Davies introduces a long-maligned and overlooked monarch, George II, and reveals that there are in fact many reasons to remember his reign. (Image from Getty Images)

George II: reassessing a much-forgotten monarch . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The Green Knight shows his severed – and still talking – head to King Arthur in this illustration of the beginning of the 14th century legend of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

“A eulogy to the cult of chivalry”: what can Sir Gawain and the Green Knight tell us about Edward III and the Hundred Years’ War?

The Persian ambassador bows before Louis XIV in the Palace of Versailles

King of the world: how Louis XIV turned France into a global power

Queen Elizabeth I dancing with Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. Artist unknown. (© Lebrecht Music and Arts Photo Library/Alamy)

Tudor tunes: music at the courts of Henry VIII, Elizabeth I and James VI and I

An illustration of the head of Louis XVI

Guillotined in the French Revolution: the bloody story through 7 severed heads

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James VI and I.

Was James VI and I murdered? . 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

Edward II during the coronation ceremony with Queen Isabella in Westminster Abbey.

Quiz How much do you know about medieval kings and queens?

A portrait of Henry VII, the first Tudor king of England, by Michiel Sittow. (Photo by Universal History Archive/Getty Images)

Medieval monarchy timeline: from the Norman Conquest to the Tudors

Eleanor of Woodstock, eldest daughter of Edward II, whom you can read more about in the April 2019 issue of BBC History Magazine. Medieval princesses had more agency than we might think says historian Kelcey Wilson-Lee. (Image by Alamy)

7 things you didn’t know a medieval princess could do