Europe

The Spanish Princess, starring Charlotte Hope as Catherine of Aragon, charts the story of the woman who married into the Tudor dynasty. (Image credit: Starz)

The real history behind The Spanish Princess

A fragment from the 'Alexander Mosaic', c100 BC, showing Alexander the Great in battle against the Persian king Darius III. (Photo by: Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

6 things you (probably) didn’t know about Alexander the Great

After her recovery from smallpox, Queen Elizabeth I started using a ceruse foundation on her face, neck and chest. (Photo by: Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

5 weird habits of royals through history

394261 12: A fiery blasts rocks the World Trade Center after being hit by two planes September 11, 2001 in New York City. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

A brief history of extremism – is the problem worse than ever?

A portrait of Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIII's first wife. Henry and Catherine's marriage was a happy one, until their failure to produce a male heir began to cast a long shadow. (Photo by The Print Collector/Getty Images)

Catherine of Aragon: Henry’s greatest queen

Funeral of Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme

Who killed Olof Palme?

In his native Como, Pliny the Younger's fame is reflected in his statue on the city cathedral's imposing west front, which was built in the 15th century. (Image by AKG Images)

The Library Pliny’s Rome: Vesuvius, vice and vestal virgins

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British troops learn to swim in full kit on a training course in May 1944. "A blind man could see something big was about to happen," said one soldier. (Image by Getty Archives)

Second World War

The Library D-day: why the training was deadlier than the assault

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A portrait of Fridtjof Nansen, taken after his daring expedition across Greenland. (Image by Alamy)

My history hero: Paul Rose chooses Fridtjof Nansen

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A 16th-century woodcut by Albrecht Dürer entitled 'The true and false apostles of Christ'. As the Reformation recast Europe's spiritual landscape, many believers fretted that their religion no longer felt true to them. (Photo by Alamy)

The fury that fuelled the rise of atheism

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Looking out across the Channel, shell craters pockmark Pointe du Hoc – a German artillery position seized by US Rangers. The promontory is one of many reminders of D-Day along the Normandy coastline. (Photo by Getty Images)

Second World War

History Explorer: D-Day beaches

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Based at UCLA, historian and geographer Jared Diamond has published a number of bestselling books, including 'The Third Chimpanzee' (1991), the Pulitze-winning 'Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies' (1997), 'Collapse' (2005) and 'The World Until Yesterday' (2012). (Photo by Tom M Johnson)

Books interview with Jared Diamond: “With countries, as with people, crises attract attention”

From left: Henry, Arthur and Margaret, the three children of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

11 key dates: Young Henry VIII, Prince Arthur and Catherine of Aragon

Troops from the 48th Royal Marines at Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer on Juno Beach, Normandy, France, during the D-Day landings, 6 June 1944. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Second World War

Your guide to D-Day: what happened, how many casualties were there, and what did it accomplish?