Women's history

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

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Catherine the Great: fact and fiction . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Suzie Lipscomb by Steve Sayers.

Suzannah Lipscomb on women’s lives in Reformation France . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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

The portrait of Queen Elizabeth I known as the Ditchley portrait

What did Queen Elizabeth I really look like at 60?

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Amelia Earhart, who became the first woman to fly non-stop across the Atlantic in 1932. (Image by Bettmann/Getty Images)

History hero Julia Bradbury chooses Amelia Earhart (1897–1937) . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A young girl in an ancient Roman fresco

Q&A Were girls educated in ancient Rome?

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

Statue of Lady Godiva

Q&A Did Lady Godiva ride naked in Coventry?

Ladies-in-waiting

General History

Q&A What 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?

In 1358, women finally gained full knightly acceptance in England when they began to be admitted to chivalric orders. (Photo by Eugene Antonov/iStock/Getty Images Plus)

Q&A Could a woman become a knight in medieval times?

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Margaret Hodge has been the MP for Barking since 1994. She held a number of ministerial positions during the 1997–2010 Labour administration, and was appointed DBE in 2015. (Photo by AP/REX/Shutterstock)

History hero Margaret Hodge chooses Katharine Graham (1917–2001) . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Da Vinci's Mona Lisa portrait

Q&A Who was the Mona Lisa?

A late 19th or early 20th-century painting entitled 'Mother and Child'. As fertility rates fell, sentimental idealisations of mothers and babies developed. (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

The motherhood revolution: how the great fertility decline affected the lives of women