Painting of Louis VIII and Blanche of Castille

Kings and queens

Henry, who would would later accede to the throne as Henry VIII, as a baby. (Photo by The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Young Henry VIII: the boy who would be king

The name Archie was originally a nickname for Archibald, which derived from the Anglo-Saxon name Eorconbeald, and the Old High German name Erchenbald, says Carolyn Harris. (Photo by Dominic Lipinski - WPA Pool/Getty Images)

Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor: the history behind the royal baby name

King Edward IV, who used the surname Plantagenet. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Q&AWhen did British kings and queens start using surnames?

A c1850 bronze statue by Thomas Thornycroft commemorating Boudica and her daughters. (Photo by Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

Boudica: scourge of the Roman empire

Rye House in Hertfordshire, which became the Parr family home in 1517, when Katherine was around five years old. (© James Schutte/Alamy Stock Photo)

8 places associated with Henry VIII’s wives

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert

Love before Prince Albert: Queen Victoria’s suitors

The marble statue of Queen Victoria at Kensington Palace, designed by her daughter Princess Louise in 1893. (Image by Alamy)

Victoria’s great palaces: 5 of the queen’s grandest and most significant homes

Edward the Confessor depicted on the Bayeux Tapestry.

Q&AWhat did Edward ‘confess’?

A depiction of Henry VIII and his only recognised illegitimate child, Henry Fitzroy. (Illustration by Glen McBeth for BBC History Magazine)

Q&ADid Henry VIII acknowledge any of his illegitimate children?

Attempted assassination of Queen Victoria (1819-1901). On the evening of Wednesday 10 June 1840 Victoria and Prince Albert were travelling in a carriage along Constitution Hill near Buckingham Palace, London, when Edward Oxford fired a pistol at the Queen

Edward Oxford: the man who tried to assassinate Queen Victoria

The chemistry between Emily Blunt (Victoria) and Rupert Friend (Albert) is palpable in the 2009 biopic. (Image by Alamy)

Queen Victoria on screen

Osborne House from terrace.

Inside Osborne: Queen Victoria and Prince Albert's island residence. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Seeking to remove opponents who questioned his right to be head of church and state, Henry VIII was ruthless in his pursuit of those he deemed traitors. (Image by Alamy)

Henry VIII's hitmen: the Tudor king's secret hunt for traitors

Hever Castle, Anne Boleyn's childhood home in Kent. (Photo by Prisma Bildagentur/UIG via Getty Images)

8 must-visit castles with Tudor connections

Portrait of Edward IV, the first Yorkist King of England.

Edward IV: facts about his life, death and reign

Portrait of a young woman believed to be Henry VIII's fifth wife, Catherine Howard. (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

Did Catherine Howard commit adultery?

Lady Sarah Frances Elizabeth Armstrong-Jones (centre) – the daughter of Princess Margaret and Antony Armstrong-Jones, Earl of Snowdon – was born seventh in line to the throne. (Photo by Terry Fincher/Daily Express/Getty Images)

7 royal babies who were once seventh in line to the throne

This 16th-century woodcut depicts King James VI at the North Berwick witch trials, the case that first sparked his obsession with hunting. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

James VI and I: the king who hunted witches. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Queen Victoria with her children and grandchildren. Kaiser Wilhelm II is pictured left in the front row. (Photo by Bettmann via Getty Images)

Friends, family and rivals: Queen Victoria and the European empires

"It was in Ireland that King John revealed himself as a monster," writes Nicholas Vincent. (Image by Alamy)

King John: the making of a medieval monster

Portrait of King Henry VI, the subject of this episode of the History Extra podcast. (Photo by Bridgeman)

Henry VI: terrible king. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

George V meeting a hospital matron on the western front during the First World War. (Photo by Getty Images)

King George V at war. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Queen Victoria pictured c1862 during her period of mourning

Prince Albert: the death that rocked the monarchy

Oil on canvas of the Princes in the Tower

An enigma at the heart of British history: who killed the Princes in the Tower, Edward V and Richard Duke of York?

Edward VIII, Duke of Windsor, sits with his wife, Wallis Simpson, at the Chateau de Cands in France, 1937. (Photo by Bettmann via Getty Images)

Edward VIII: Nazi sympathiser, playboy prince or peace-loving reformer?

Olivia Colman as Queen Anne in 'The Favourite'. (Photo by Twentieth Century Fox/Entertainment Pictures)

The Favourite: the real history behind the new Queen Anne film

An illustration of Edward II. (Photo by Culture Club/Getty Images)

The big debate: was Edward II really murdered?

Catherine Hanley tells the story of Empress Matilda, whose battle for the English throne became known as ‘the anarchy’. (Photo by Jeni Nott for BBC History Magazine)

Empress Matilda: Medieval warrior queen. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Catherine Hanley talks to Ellie Cawthorne about Matilda, the legitimate daughter of Henry I. (Photographed for BBC History Magazine by Jeni Nott).

Catherine Hanley on Matilda: "Honestly, if I were her, I'd have wanted to put my fist through a wall". This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

As a child king, Henry VI – shown in a c16th-century portrait – learned the lessons of kingship from books. Unfortunately, those books didn't extol the merits of ruthlessness and practising realpolitik. (Photo by Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

How Henry VI's love of peace cost him the throne – and his life