People watching the Royal Wedding

United Kingdom

Elizabeth Debicki as Princess Diana and Dominic West as Prince Charles in episode one of season five of The Crown.

The Crown S5 E1 real history: ‘Queen Victoria Syndrome’ and a second honeymoon

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

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

Annus HorribilisWhat happened in the Queen’s horrible year?

The letter that betrayed the gunpowder plotters.

An engraving of a prison hulk at Deptford, from a c1826 painting. (Photo by: Photo 12/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Floating hell: the brutal history of prison hulks

Photo of the SAS in North Africa

Second World War

How the early SAS became heroes of the Second World War

Prime minister Edward Heath

A brief history of U-turns.

Prime minister and king in black and white photo

Q&APrior to 2022, has there ever been a new monarch and prime minister in Britain in the same week?.

A scene from the Luttrell Psalter, c1330, gives an idealised insight into everyday life in 14th-century rural England

Life as a medieval peasantHow accurate are depictions on screen?.

Protesters gather outside the Royal Courts of Justice during the 2003 Hutton inquiry into claims, broadcast on the BBC, that the case for war in Iraq had been “sexed up”.

BBC at 100Rocked by scandal.

Anthony Eden addresses BBC cameras in 1956

BBC at 1001950s friction between government and the BBC.

Industrial revolution

Q&AWhy do we say ‘get the sack’?

The Unesco world heritage site of Hadrian's Wall. (Photo by Getty Images)

Black British historyBlack Britannia.

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

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

Paterson Joseph and Ignatius Sancho

My history heroPaterson Joseph chooses Ignatius Sancho.

Image of black people protesting. (GettyImages_1153422488)

General History

Black British historyA timeline of key moments

Photo of the Jarrow March

The Jarrow marchThe lasting legacy of the 1936 protest

The Unesco world heritage site of Hadrian's Wall. (Photo by Getty Images)

New light on the end of Roman Britain.

Sara Forbes Bonetta (seated besides her husband James Davies was brought to England in the late 1840s by a Navy captain. Presented to Queen Victoria, she impressed the monarch so much that Victoria became her godmother

Black History MonthWhat is it, historians on its relevance, plus 7 articles you should read

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 IIIThe story of how a lost king was found.

A missionary preaches to the Native Americans of Massachusetts, c1650. By now, colonists were imposing their values on the indigenous population, encouraging them to dress like the English – and worship the English God. (Photo by Ian Tyas/Keystone/Getty Images)

Britain's nuclear fearsHow has the UK prepared for Armageddon?.

Image of Somalians meeting in a cafe

General History

Black British historyKey questions answered

Image of Empress Matilda

What if…Empress Matilda had defeated King Stephen?.

Adam Henson and Robert Bakewell

My history heroAdam Henson chooses Robert Bakewell.

The leader of the Luddites, 1812. Found in the collection of British Museum. Anonymous artist. (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

5 of the worst years in British history

Herbert Rowse ArmstrongInnocent solicitor or guilty murderer?.

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

How to be a successorDo’s and don’ts for heirs to the throne from history.

British writer Hilary Mantel photographed at home

Hilary Mantel on the secrets of successful historical fiction.

Crowds line the streets to watch the funeral cortege of Queen Victoria in February 1901. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Tracy BormanA guide to royal funerals through history.

Prince Charles in 1969

King Charles IIIThe life of the reigning king