21st Century

Expert history articles and analysis about the global events of the 21st century…

The British royal family at the Queen's annual birthday parade 2019

A brief guide to the British royal family, by The Crown’s historian Robert Lacey

Princess Anne and Queen Elizabeth II

In profile: Princess Anne, daughter of Queen Elizabeth II

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 Month: what is it, historians on its relevance, plus 6 articles you should read

London during the Blitz - the systematic night-time bombing of the British by the Luftwaffe in 1940 - 1941. (Photo by Getty Images)

Rationing, school closures and ‘Blitz spirit’: how did people cope in WW2?

Huge sun setting over power lines and palm trees in California. (Photo by Getty Images)

California’s century of change

Japanese school girls wear protective masks to guard against the influenza outbreak, February 1920. (Photo by Getty Images)

A history of pandemics: from Spanish Flu to Covid-19

A mushroom cloud produced by the explosion of a hydrogen bomb during Operation Ivy, an American nuclear test that took place in 1952. (SSPL/Getty Images)

How have nuclear weapons shaped global politics? 10 key moments in the post-war atomic world

Two nannies stop for a chat while walking their charges in a London park, March 1916 (Photo by Getty Images)

Working mothers

A slave in chains expressing the inhumanity of slavery with the words 'Am I not a man and a brother?', 1774. (Photo by Getty Images)

8 podcasts about slavery and the slave trade to listen to right now

A slave in chains expressing the inhumanity of slavery with the words 'Am I not a man and a brother?', 1774. (Photo by Getty Images)

Britain and the slave trade

The British home has changed substantially in the past 300 years (Illustration by Ed Crooks)

The evolution of the British home: from the Georgian era to the present day

David Olusoga in the Bristol house featuring in series 3 of A House Through Time (Photo by BBC–Twenty Twenty Productions–Mark Bourdillon)

David Olusoga on A House Through Time

Members of the royal family: Prince Louis; Prince George; Prince William, Duke of Cambridge; Princess Charlotte; Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge; Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall; Prince Charles, Prince of Wales; Princess Anne, Princess Royal; and Queen Elizabeth II during the Queen's annual birthday parade on 8 June 2019 in London, England. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

From The Crown to Queen Elizabeth’s corgis: 24 history questions about the royal family for your home pub quiz

Illustration of Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19). (Photo by Alamy)

Coronavirus: what might we learn from pandemics in the past?

Illustration of Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19). (Photo by Alamy)

Coronavirus: a historical perspective