Painting of Louis VIII and Blanche of Castille

Kings and queens

Figure of Tutankhamun

In pictures: the glittering treasures of Tutankhamun

Portrait of King Henry V. (Photo by Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

Henry V: 5 facts you might not know about the king's softer side. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Historian Nichola Tallis

“Margaret Beaufort wielded enormous power. She was a queen in all but name”: Nicola Tallis on the mother of the Tudors. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Tutankhamun's blue and gold funerary mask

Tutankhamun unmasked: 7 intriguing truths about the pharaoh and his treasures

A depiction of a 13th-century parliament, sitting under Edward I. The Good Parliament of 1376, during the reign of Edward III, sowed the seeds for discontent that was to come.

The Good Parliament of 1376: Crown v Commons. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Princess Margaret and her husband, Lord Snowdon, in San Francisco during a visit to America, November 1965. (Photo by Harry Benson/Express/Getty Images)

“Cheap men and expensive bottles”: Princess Margaret’s love affairs

James VI and I depicted in Parliament, c1605

Queen Elizabeth I’s ‘Golden Speech’ and 5 more key moments in the history of crown and parliament. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Richard III, anonymous painting around 1500. (Photo by Alamy)

The house of York. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Queen of hearts: When Catherine's husband Tsar Peter III alienated his people, they instead turned to his wife, and she was proclaimed the rightful ruler.

General Early Modern

Catherine the Great: your guide to the famed Empress of Russia

Portrait of Marie Antoinette in deep mourning, while in prison

The final days of Marie Antoinette

1651, Charles Prince of Wales (1630 - 1685) (later King Charles II of England) meets Sir Henry Lee near Oxford during the Civil War, while escaping after the Battle of Worcester.

How Charles II put Britain back together after the Civil War. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

War criminal? William the Conqueror shown on horseback in the Bayeux Tapestry. The king's Harrying of the North was a military success but a human catastrophe – one that even appalled chroniclers traditionally sympathetic to the Norman regime. (Photo by Bridgeman)

Was William the Conqueror a war criminal? The brutal story of the Harrying of the North

A portrait of George V's wife, Queen Mary, who was born Princess Mary of Teck.

Was Queen Mary, wife of George V, a kleptomaniac?

Ramesses II holding prisoners

Was Ramesses II really that great?

The daughter and great-niece of Henry VIII respectively, Elizabeth and Mary, Queen of Scots didn't feel strong family ties when it came to their relationship. (Photo by Getty Images)

Queens at war: Elizabeth I vs Mary, Queen of Scots. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

King George VI, Queen Elizabeth, and their daughters, Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret of United Kingdom. (Photo by: Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

The Windsors at war: what did the royal family do during WW2?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A portrait of Queen Victoria and her family

Q&AWho were Prince Albert's family, the Saxe-Coburg-Gothas?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Archduchess Ileana’s great grandmother, Queen Victoria, whose birth certificate Ileana desperately needed to get hold of (Getty)

Queen Victoria and the Nazis: the strange tale of the search for the royal family's Aryan origins. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The portrait of Queen Elizabeth I known as the Ditchley portrait

What did Queen Elizabeth I really look like at 60?

Henri III: Elizabeth I’s unlikely ally. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A 16th-century portrait of Mary, Queen of Scots. (Photo by The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Mary, Queen of Scots: the real history behind the film

Portrait of Prince Albert

8 fascinating facts about Queen Victoria's husband, Prince Albert

Ladies-in-waiting

General History

Q&AWhat did a lady-in-waiting actually do?

Mary, Queen of Scots and her ladies-in-waiting. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Mary, Queen of Scots: what happened to her ladies-in-waiting?

A portrait of Sir Walter Ralegh

Q&ADid Sir Walter Ralegh really lay down his cloak for Elizabeth I?

Professor Dame Janet L Nelson

Charlemagne: medieval empire builder. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Aidan Turner as Ross Poldark. The BBC television drama is putting Cornwall’s coastline at risk of "over-tourism” as visitors flock to the area to visit the show's scenic filming locations, tourism chiefs have warned. (Photo by BBC/Mammoth Screen/Mike Hogan)

Poldark, Peaky Blinders and 6 other historical TV shows that have tourists flocking to Britain

Professor Dame Janet L Nelson has published extensively on early medieval Europe. She is professor emeritus at King's College London, a fellow of the British Academy and a former president of the Royal Historical Society. Her previous books include 'Charles the Bald' (1992) and 'The Frankish World' (1996). (Photograph by Frank Monks)

Books interview with Janet Nelson: "The only way this huge regime could work was by Charlemagne trusting his own instincts". This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The ruins of Dunluce Castle, which sit on the coastal cliffs of North Antrim in Northern Ireland. They are thought to have been the inspiration for CS Lewis’s castle Cair Paravel in ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ (1950–56). (Photo by Andrea Ricordi/Contributor/Getty Images)

9 of Britain’s best castles. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Charles I. (Photo by World History Archive/Alamy)

King killers in America. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.