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Britain's Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge show their newly-born daughter and their second child Princess Charlotte, to the media outside St Mary's Hospital in central London, in May 2015. (Photo by Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images)

5 momentous royal births

First World War

Female Tommies: women in the First World War

Bosworth: the race to find the battlefield

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Diana, Princess Of Wales, Prince William And Prince Harry visit Thorpe Park amusement park. (Photo by Julian Parker/UK Press via Getty Images)

How to raise a royal… with Tracy Borman

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Royal babies

Following the announcement that Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex is pregnant...

A portrait of Henry VIII with Prince Edward, his son by his third wife, Jane Seymour. If the future Henry IX had survived, there may have been no cause for Henry to annul his marriage to Katherine of Aragon and marry Anne Boleyn in 1533, says Amy Licence. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

6 royal births that changed the world (or could have)

The future King George VI (1895-1952) as a baby, 1895. The name 'George' appears in the list of the top 10 boys' names both today and a century ago. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

What’s in a name? A brief history of baby name trends from the Anglo-Saxons to today

A portrait of three of the children of Henry VII: Prince Henry; Arthur Prince of Wales and Princess Margaret. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Royal sibling rivalry: Henry VIII, Richard III and other monarchs whose fate was determined by their brothers and sisters

Queen Victoria with children

Queen Victoria’s children

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In the news

Today’s events in historical context…

In 1926, a time of social and political strife, the country unified in celebrating the birth of Princess Elizabeth. (Photo by Central Press/Getty Images)

5 royal births that rocked a nation

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British prime minister Tony Blair (right), US Senator George Mitchell (centre) and Irish prime minister Bertie Ahern smiling on 10 April 1998 after signing the Good Friday Agreement – an historic agreement for peace in Northern Ireland. (Photo by Dan Chung/AFP/Getty Images)

A brief history of the Good Friday Agreement

First World War

Gallipoli and famine

6th August 1965: A scene from 'Mission to the Unknown', an episode of the popular British television sci-fi series 'Doctor Who', shows a meeting in the Dalek city on Kembel, 6th August 1965. Representatives of the seven galaxies meet and approve the Daleks' plan to conquer Earth.(Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)

Doctor Who through the ages

Black History Month

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Ira Aldridge: Shakespeare’s black Othello

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The end of slavery and headaches in history

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Whitewashing black historical figures demeans us all

Portrait of an African man, c1530. (Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

The missing Tudors: black people in 16th-century England

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Shackles that were used to tether slaves, on display at the International Slavery Museum. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

History explorer: the British slave trade

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An illustration of slaves picking cotton on a plantation. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Books interview with David Olusoga: “Black history affects all of us – it is British history”

Members of the Ku Klux Klan march down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington DC in 1925. The Klan of this era was a terrorist group in the precise meaning of that term, says Linda Gordon. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

When the Ku Klux Klan was a mass movement

Civil rights leader Martin Luther King

Martin Luther King: A drum major for justice

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Roots: a necessary portrayal of transatlantic slavery?

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Black British history and Charles I’s children

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The Library

Unlock exclusive content for BBC History Magazine subscribers

Professor Kathleen Burk and Simon Jenkins discuss Jenkins's new book, 'A Short History of Europe'. (Photo by David Hampton for BBC World Histories magazine)

Simon Jenkins and Kathleen Burk on the history of Europe

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Inside the fort was a famous spring, St Helen’s Well, today Robin Hood’s Well. (© Bill Henderson)

Where was the battle that saved England?

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Canterbury Cathedral

The unholy feud that killed Thomas Becket

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Archaeologist Howard Carter opens the coffin of Tutankhamun. (Photo by Time Life Pictures/Mansell/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)

What killed Tutankhamun?

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More from The Library

The Second World War

Everything you need to know...

The Pearl Harbour attack, 7 December 1941: sailors at the Naval Air Station, Ford Island, stand amid wreckage watching as the USS Shaw explodes in the centre background. The USS Nevada is also visible in the middle background, with her bow headed toward the left. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images)

Second World War

The 11 most significant battles of the Second World War

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

The Ghent Altarpiece. (Image by Getty Images)

Second World War

Who were the real monuments men of the Second World War?

Philippe Sands tells the story behind his new BBC podcast and Radio 4 series, Intrigue: The Ratline. (Photo by Jillian Edelstein/Camera Press)

The Nazi on the run

Hawker Hurricane in flight, Battle of Britain, World War II, 1940. A Hawker Hurricane of Fighter Command on its way to intercept German bombers as they crossed the south coast of England. Fought between 10 July and 31 October 1940, the Battle of Britain was the first major battle to be won in the air. The RAF's victory in the battle effectively prevented the Germans from attempting an invasion. (Photo by Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Second World War

6 Battle of Britain myths

Anne Frank, a Jewish girl who went into hiding in Amsterdam during the Second World War to escape from the Nazis. Her diary was first published (in Dutch) on 25 June 1947. (Photo by ullstein bild/ullstein bild via Getty Images)

Second World War

7 things you need to know about Anne Frank and her diary

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Women's history

Austrian physicist Lise Meitner

6 women in science history you (probably) didn’t know about

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

Quiz: 100 Women Who Changed The World

Top ( l-r) Agrippina the Elder, Julia, and Livia. Bottom (l-r) Messalina and Agrippina the Younger

The women who built the Roman Empire

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Podcast Website large Nadine Akkerman

Female spies of the Civil War era

'The butterfly hunt' (1874) by Berthe Morisot

First ladies of art: three trailblazing female artists from history

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Suffragette Annie Kenney is arrested during a demonstration. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

5 women’s rights activists you might not know about

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?

Director Peter Jackson in 2015 in Beijing, China (Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images)

First World War

Peter Jackson on the First World War

Wreck of Fishing boat, Iceland. (Photo by Dreamstime)

Adventures in Iceland

Treaty Of Paris, 1783, by Benjamin West (Photo by Granger/REX/Shutterstock)

Brexit and American independence

St Basil's Cathdral, Moscow. (Photo by Dreamstime)

The spy who changed the Cold War

Neil Oliver. (Photo by Bill Osment)

Neil Oliver’s history of the British Isles

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Latest articles

Queen Victoria. (Photo by Robert Alexander/Getty Images)

Queen Victoria timeline: 9 milestones in the monarch’s life

"The Knights Templare were able to flight across all terrains. They were the equivalent of the SAS, the Navy SEALS or the French Foreign Legion," says Dan Jones. (Alamy)

The rise and fall of the Knights Templar

A scene from 'They Shall Not Grow Old', showing how film director Peter Jackson digitally remastered footage of the First World War. (Photo courtesy of THEY SHALL NOT GROW OLD/ WingNut Films/ Peter Jackson. Original black and white film © IWM)

First World War

“There was no feeling sorry for themselves”: Director Peter Jackson on the soldiers of the First World War

A scene from the Bayeux Tapestry depicting the death of King Harold II during the battle of Hastings in 1066. (Photo by Getty Images)

8 battle of Hastings facts

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?

Second World War soldiers

Second World War

Second World War quiz

People praying for relief from the bubonic plague, circa 1350. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Medieval quiz

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Popular historic periods

Portrait of King Henry VIII, Jane Seymour and Prince Edward. (Photo by Getty Images)

Tudor

Illustrated Medieval scene from the Romance of Lancelot

Medieval

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Victorian

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20th Century

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Popular people from history

Painting of Henry VIII

Henry VIII

Portrait of Queen Victoria

Queen Victoria

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Winston Churchill

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Tutankhamun

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Social history

Photo of Mabel Capper and Patricia Woodlock advertising a meeting, Manchester, Lancashire, July 1908

Women's history

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Sex and love

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Military history

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