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In December 2018, the BBC's 'Victoria and Albert: The Royal Wedding' will restage the wedding of Queen Victoria and her beloved Prince Albert. (Image Credit:
BBC)

“Nothing could have gone off better”: the wedding of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert

The taste of Christmas past: 4 historical festive recipes

Second World War

The Library The great misconceptions of the Second World War

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Wonders of the Middle Ages

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Christmas

The history behind the festive holiday…

'Merry Christmas' Victorian illustration of Santa Claus holding toys and blowing on a trumpet, chromolithograph, 1915. (Illustration by GraphicaArtis/Getty Images)

The changing faces of Santa Claus

(Illustration by Eleanor Shakespeare for BBC History Magazine)

36 books for history lovers: BBC History Magazine’s Christmas reading list

Christmas merriment in an old English manor in the 1500s. (Photo by North Wind Picture Archives/Alamy)

How to host a medieval Christmas

Tudor advent calendar

History advent calendar: 24 facts about Christmas in the Tudor period

How did Henry VIII and Elizabeth I celebrate Yuletide? (Illustration by Becca Thorne for BBC History Magazine)

Tales from a Tudor Christmas

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A group of carol singers on a wintry night at Christmas time, c1890. (Photo by William M. Spittle/Fine Art Photographic/Getty Images)

Christmas songs – the oldest ones are the best

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In the news

Today’s events in historical context…

An 1824 cartoon depicting the drinking escapades of Oxford students. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The history of student life: 7 things you didn’t know

(Getty Images)

The Library Why has Britain decided to leave the EU?

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Stitching the fashions of the 19th century

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The impact of war and a zoological institution

Mary, Queen of Scots and Elizabeth I

As a new film Mary Queen of Scots, starring Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie, airs in the US

Mary, Queen of Scots craved the throne occupied by her cousin Elizabeth I (pictured). Theirs was a relationship defined by plots, massacres, assassinations and ultimately, the executioner's sword. (Photo by Robert Alexander/Getty Images)

Deadly Rivals: Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots

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 c1610 portrait of Mary, Queen of Scots, a "charming and ill-fated woman brought down by forces beyond her control". (DeAgostini/Getty Images)

The Library The downfall of Mary, Queen of Scots

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The Library Elizabeth I’s war with England’s Catholics

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Inside the mind of Elizabeth I

7 things you (probably) didn’t know about Elizabeth I

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Kings and queens

Ahead of our Kings and Queens Weekend in March 2019…

BBC History Magazine's Kings and Queens Weekend, March 2019

Kings and Queens Weekend 2–3 March 2019

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Charles II on the run

Circa 1565, The Queen of England, Elizabeth I (1533 - 1603), by Marc Gerrarts. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

The 10 best English queens in history

A portrait of the young Elizabeth I. (Photo by Art Collection 2/Alamy Stock Photo)

The Library Elizabeth I's personality: the unfathomable queen

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c1540, a portrait of King Henry VIII. An engraving by T A Dean from a painting by Hans Holbein. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

5 things you (probably) didn’t know about Henry VIII

A portrait of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert with five of their nine children, by Frederick Winterhalter. (Photo by © Historical Picture Archive/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

The Library Victoria and Albert: a marriage of misery?

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The Library

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A portrait of Anne Boleyn. (Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images)

The Library Did Anne Boleyn crave the crown?

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Our illustration shows King Arthur leading his troops into battle. The legendary warlord's victories over Saxon invaders first appear in a 'history' written in the ninth-century north Wales. (Illustration by Georgie Gozem for BBC History Magazine)

The Library The King Arthur delusion: a case of medieval fake news?

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Second World War

The Library Pivotal points of WWII

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Roman civilization, Relief portraying gladiators and lions fighting in circus

The Library Gladiators in Ancient Rome: how did they live and

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Elizabeth I, shown in a portrait commemorating victory over the Armada. (Photo by: Photo 12/UIG via Getty Images)

7 things you (probably) didn’t know about Elizabeth I

Queen Victoria pictured c1862 during her period of mourning after the death of her husband, Albert, Prince of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Prince Albert: the death that rocked the monarchy

Marble bust of Emperor Caligula. (DEA / A. DAGLI ORTI/De Agostini/Getty Images)

The 8 bloodiest Roman emperors in history

Queen Victoria of Great Britain with her husband, Prince Albert, and their nine children. (Photo by Rischgitz/Getty Images)

Queen Victoria’s children

Read American history

The Second World War

Everything you need to know...

Firemen tackle a blitz fire amidst the rubble surrounding St Paul's Cathedral, London. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images)

Second World War

Second World War: a timeline

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Second World War

Female flyers in Nazi Germany

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The 1993 film ‘Schindler’s List’. (AF Archive/Alamy Stock Photo)

Second World War

7 must-see Second World War films

Contrasting biographies of iconic leader Winston Churchill show how perceptions of historical figures change with the passing of time, says David Cannadine. (Photo by Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Second World War

The Library Why Churchill’s reputation is still on the line

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A mushroom cloud over Nagasaki after the dropping of the second atomic bomb, 9 August 1945. The dropping of the bomb prompted Japan to agree to surrender unconditionally, as it now seemed likely that the Americans could mount an inexorable process of bombing. (Photo by Time Life Pictures/Us Air Force/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)

Second World War

WW2 10 of the most important Second World War dates

A Royal Air Force fighter squadron 'scrambles' after receiving the signal to engage the enemy during the Battle of Britain. (Photo by William Vandivert/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)

Second World War

A brief history of the Royal Air Force

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Women's history

c1935: Beatrice Shilling sits astride her Norton motorcycle. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images)

5 “bloody brilliant” 20th-century women

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Restoring women’s voices

A fourth to fifth-century AD Roman mosaic shows a woman spinning. The household was considered a woman's natural environment; the political arena certainly was not. (Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images)

6 women who changed the course of Roman history

Historians Joanne Paul, Olivette Otele and June Purvis dissect the results of our recent poll: 100 women who changed the world.

Video: 100 women who changed the world

Female aviators Dorothy Spicer and Pauline Gower in a bungalow in Reading, 9 September 1931. Gower later became an officer of the Air Transport Auxiliary's No 5 Ferry Pilots Pool. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images)

Second World War

When women flew Spitfires

English countrywoman (right) with a lady of the court. From ‘Civitates Orbis Terrarum’, 1572. (Photo by Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Tudor women: what was life like?

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History Extra Podcast

The latest episodes from the History Extra podcast

Equestrian statue of Robert E. Lee, Richmond (Photo by Library of Congress)

Who should we commemorate?

Simon Sebag Montefiore on letters from history. (Photo by Dreamstime)

Letters that changed the world

Malcolm X speaking at a rally, 29 June 1963.(Photo by Bettmann/Getty Images)

Black radicalism with Kehinde Andrews

Adam Zamoyski offers his views on the iconic French leader, Napoleon. (Photo by Imagno/Getty Images)

Napoleon: the insecure emperor

A poverty-stricken migrant mother with three young children by Dorothea Lange, colourised by Marina Amaral. (Photo courtesy of Head of Zeus)

History in colour

Sir Walter Raleigh, 1552–1618 (Photo by Getty Images)

Walter Ralegh: enemy of the state

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Latest articles

Britons watch Queen Elizabeth II’s Christmas message in 1958. (© Topfoto)

A brief history of the Christmas Speech

Trouble brewing: This illustration shows “Boston boys throwing tea into the harbour” on 16 December 1773. The protestors revelled in the opportunity to make a bold statement that would be felt across the world. (Getty images)

The global origins of the Boston Tea Party

Are we returning to an age of political extremes? (Illustration by Davide Bonazzi for BBC World Histories Magazine)

The big question Are we returning to an age of political extremes?

A vintage colour postcard, possibly produced to send Christmas greetings from the frontline, somewhere on the Western Front, during the First World War, c1918. (Photo by Popperfoto/Getty Images)

First World War

Christmas 10 ways Christmas was celebrated during the First World War

History Quizzes

How much do you know about history? Test out your knowledge with our quizzes...

The Romanovs, 1913: Nicholas II with his wife and children. (Photo by Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images)

History quiz – The Romanovs

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Great Fire of London quiz – how much do you know?

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Second World War

Second World War quiz

The results of the poll: 100 women who changed the world. (Photos by Getty Images/Alamy)

Quiz: 100 Women Who Changed The World

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