People watching the Royal Wedding

United Kingdom

Ragnar Lothbrok. (Illustration by Georgie Gozem for BBC History Magazine)

Ragnar Lothbrok: the legend of the immortal Viking and his sons

Asians in 1980s Britain.

A 15th-century miniature from 'La Vraye Histoire du Bon Roy Alixandre'. (Photo by Leemage/Corbis via Getty Images)

6 Christmas party tips from the past.

A family at the seaside in the 1960s.

In pictures: English life in the 1960s, photographed by Tony Ray-Jones

Edwardian hat pin head found on the Thames shore. (Photo by Bloomsbury)

Secrets of the river.

Lord Mountbatten at a desk

Lord Mountbatten: Did Prince Philip’s uncle attempt to lead a coup against Harold Wilson’s government?

Knole, a house on an epic scale that's now run by the National Trust.

ExploreKnole: the grandest of family homes.

The Mountbattens: success and scandal.

Princess Margaret wearing a fur coat

Princess Margaret: from glamorous royal to a slide into tragedy.

British writer Roald Dahl

Second World War

Roald Dahl11 things you might not know about the children's author

Harlech Castle with Snowdonia in the background.

A brief history of Wales: the resilient nation

The ninth-century Alfred Jewel, adorned with the inscription: "Alfred ordered me to be made". This masterpiece of Anglo-Saxon art is thought to have been an aestel, a pointer used to follow text. (Picture by Alamy)

10 ways the Anglo-Saxons changed the course of British history.

Nicola Tallis photographed by David Hampton in October 2019

Nicola Tallis on Margaret Beaufort, mother of the Tudors.

Viking ships arriving in Britain, c1130. (Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty

From the raid on Lindisfarne to Harald Hardrada's defeat: 8 Viking dates you need to know

Hallie Rubenhold photographed in London. "In the 19th century, being both poor and a woman was a terrible combination. The cards were stacked against them," she says. (Photography by Fran Monks)

Hallie Rubenhold: “To most people, the women killed by the Ripper are just corpses. I want to tell a different story”.

The queen's visit to the Welsh village of Aberfan

“No match for reality”: the missing history in The Crown series three.

The 1969 documentary was made amid a feeling that there was an increasing awareness of a need to ‘sell’ the monarchy to the people, writes historian Sarah Gristwood. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

‘Royal Family’: the fly-on-the-wall documentary the Palace doesn’t want you to see.

Queen Elizabeth II invests her eldest son, Prince Charles

Charles, The Prince of Wales’s 1969 investiture at Caernarfon Castle, 50 years on

Charles I's great weakness was that he made a strict distinction between his role as king, in which he could not compromise, and his personal role, which was entirely pleasant and courteous, says Sean Lang. (Photo by Imagno/Getty Images)

8 of the nicest kings in history

The newly crowned Queen Elizabeth II

Why has the British monarchy survived?

Mary I: the forgotten trailblazer.

The War of the Worlds. (Photo by BBC/© Mammoth Screen)

Days of future past: how the new BBC TV series The War of the Worlds reinvented the sci-fi classic

Turkeys, bred in Norfolk, cover the facade of a London butcher's shop, 1929. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

Shop ’till you drop: a brief history of Christmas shopping.

Actress Sarah Bernhardt, who was personally invited by Oscar Wilde to play the title role in the upcoming London premiere of his play, 'Salomé'.

6 of London theatre’s most notable historical scandals.

The Crown of Thorns allegedly worn by Christ during the Passion. It was one of the prized possessions in Notre-Dame Cathedral until April 2019 – when it was rescued by the inferno that gutted the building. (Photo by: Godong/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Father, son and holy goat? The dark side of medieval relics.

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)

"There was no feeling sorry for themselves": director Peter Jackson on the soldiers of the First World War.

Marshal Foch and his accompaniment leaving Compiègne in order to inform the French government in Paris about the Armistice agreement with Germany. (Photo by ullstein bild/ullstein bild via Getty Images)

First World War

Where was the Armistice signed?

11th November 1918: An army lorry in a London street on Armistice Day, carrying jubilant passengers. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

11 November 1918: The day the world turned upside down.

Timothée Chalamet as Prince Hal

“It’s hard to square Prince Hal’s pacifism with what we know about Henry V”: a historian’s review of The King

Princess Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth II) and her fiance, Philip Mountbatten at Buckingham Palace, after their engagement was announced, 10th July 1947. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Prince Philip as consort: a life of duty and devotion.