Painting of Louis VIII and Blanche of Castille

Kings and queens

Why Magna Carta matters

Winston Churchill, former prime minister of the United Kingdom, gives his 'victory' sign while making a polling day tour of his constituency during an election. (Getty Images)

Are these the most overrated people in history?

The Black Prince's tomb in Canterbury Cathedral depicts Edward III's son as a resting warrior, a paragon of knightly virtue. The prince conceived the tomb's design himself but not everyone has bought into his favourable assessment of his life's achievements. (Photo by RDImages/Epics/Getty Images)

The Black Prince: hero or villain?

Suzannah Lipscomb on the importance of the Tudors. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Chepstow Castle', C1770S.

The LibraryWales in the Civil War: the last refuge of monarchy

The "hauntingly beautiful" Elisabeth, Empress of Austria, was never at ease in Vienna's stuffy court. (Getty Images)

A big day in history: a royal icon is stabbed through the heart

A portrait of Russian queen Catherine the Great

In pictures: Catherine the Great

Executed queen

Was a nine-year-old boy imprisoned for making a joke about Louis XIV’s bald head?

Procession portrait of Queen Elizabeth I. (Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

How Elizabeth I used parties as a weapon against the Catholic threat to her throne

Richard I (also known as Richard the Lionheart) frequently dated documents with the 'regnal year'. An example of this might be "Winchester on the 23 day of April in the fifth year of our reign", which would translate to 23 April 1194. (Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

A legacy of the lionheart

Members of the royal family on board the royal barge 'Spirit of Chartwell'. (Rota/Anwar Hussein/Getty Images)

The LibraryThe Thames triumphant: royal parties on London's grandest street

A view towards the Carew estuary between a dry stone wall and the ruins of Carew Castle, Pembrokeshire, UK. (Dreamstime)

Where history happened: Tudor courtiers with Suzannah Lipscomb. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Philip of Spain, King of England: The Forgotten Sovereign

A photograph of Queen Victoria and her descendants, taken in April 1894 in Coburg, Germany. The photograph shows Queen Victoria's position at the centre of a network of alliances created by strategic marriages, which gave her the name 'the grandmother of Europe'. (Alamy)

A photograph of Queen Victoria and her family: what can it tell us?

King George VI and stories from Africa. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

King George V and his wife, Queen Mary, pictured during a visit to Dublin in 1911. The royal couple were deeply conservative but common sense taught them they had to adapt to the modern world. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

How George and Mary saved the royal family

A portrait of King Edward III. By using his offspring as pawns in a series of alliances, the king hoped to wield power over a confederation of dependent states bound together by feudal and family ties. (Photo by VCG Wilson/Corbis via Getty Images)

King Edward III: the family man

The mourning of Queen Victoria. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A scene from the Chronique de St Denis depicting the marriage of Eleanor of Aquitaine and Louis VII of France, 1137. (Photo by Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images)

An A to Z of the Plantagenets

Matilda: William the Conqueror’s queen

A portrait of Sir Francis Walsingham, Elizabeth I’s ‘spymaster’. (Photo by Photo 12/UIG via Getty Images)

Sir Francis Walsingham: spy-master extraordinaire and Elizabeth I’s security chief

A portrait of Henry VII in 1505. His claim to the throne was tenuous and he had to see off a posse of pretenders, yet he proved a canny and competent ruler, modernising the justice system and filling the crown’s coffers. (Photo by Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

Henry VII: the survivor and stabiliser

The Victorian telegraph and Dan Snow on his new series. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The LibrarySummer holidays and Edward VI. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The LibraryThe career of one of England's most well-known kings. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The origins of the Tudors. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A monumental misunderstanding

The A to Z of royal weddings with Tracy Borman

BBC History Magazine

You’d be a mug to sneer at royal wedding souvenirs