Kings and queens

Queen Elizabeth II sends her first Tweet during a visit to the 'Information Age' Exhibition at the Science Museum on October 24, 2014 in London, England. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

How did the world change during Queen Elizabeth II’s reign?

King Henry V (left) in a late-16th- or early 17th-century portrait by an unknown artist; and his son Henry VI (right) in a c1500s portrait (Photos by Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

Why Henry VI’s reign was such a disaster

Statue of Ramesses II, at Luxor Temple. He ruled Egypt for 66 years, and left more statues than any other pharaoh (Photo by Michelle McMahon / Getty Images)

5 of the most powerful pharaohs to rule ancient Egypt

The queen – dressed in dark clothing – stands up from a table to deliver a speech

Annus Horribilis What happened in the Queen’s horrible year?

A copy of a wall painting shows Sety I (r1294-1279 BC) opening the door for Osiris, lord of the dead

Egyptian pharaohs: your essential guide to Egypt’s ancient rulers

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Dominic West as Prince Charles and Elizabeth Debicki as Diana in season 5 of The Crown

Opinion “If scholars can’t write accurate histories of the Queen’s reign, drama is what we’ll continue to rely on” . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Ramesses I

Timeline The age of the pharaohs

Tutankhamun’s golden funeral mask

Your guide to Tutankhamun, plus 8 fascinating facts

Harry Lloyd (Richard III) and Sally Hawkins (Philippa Langley) in The Lost King

The Lost King The difficult art of turning a true story into a movie

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Pod Robert Harris WL

Robert Harris on the manhunt for Charles I’s killers . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Elisabeth von Wittelsbach, c1860, (left) and actor Devrim Lingnau as Elisabeth in Netflix drama The Empress.

Sisi: the tragic life of the lost and lonely Empress Elisabeth of Austria

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The skeleton exhumed from beneath a Leicester car park in 2012. The remains contained features matching Tudor descriptions of Richard III, and injuries to the skull and body inflicted at the battle of Bosworth in 1485

Rediscovering Richard III The story of how a lost king was found . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The Serpent Queen stars Samantha Morton as Catherine de' Medici

The Serpent Queen The STARZ drama offers a caricature of the real Catherine de' Medici

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(L to R) Elizabeth I, Charles II and Edward VII

How to be a successor Do’s and don’ts for heirs to the throne from history . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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James VI of Scotland (later also James I of England and Ireland) and his young wife, Anna of Denmark

The honeymoon of James VI and Anna of Denmark . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.