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Episode 63 royal women who changed the world. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Episode 5Queen Victoria: a symbol of empire. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Episode 4Mary I: England’s most misunderstood queen?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Episode 3Marie Antoinette: the French queen who became the target of a revolution. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Episode 2Cleopatra’s rise and fall. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Episode 1Elizabeth II: the queen who redefined an era. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A detailed painting depicts a ruler seated on a golden throne beneath a decorated canopy, surrounded by attendants and courtiers in elaborate garments and turbans. Musicians sit in the foreground, and greenery fills the background.

Power, pomp and the Peacock Throne: the Mughal empire at 500. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Retracing Eleanor of Castile's final journey. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A top-down view shows a cheese pizza topped with sliced olives, peppers, and onions, with one slice cut and pulled slightly away from the rest

Episode 2Pizza. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Queen Elizabeth II sits on a garden bench with her young children, Prince Charles and Princess Anne, holding them close as they look in different directions among colourful flowers.

What was Queen Elizabeth II like as a mother?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A young Queen Elizabeth II, then Princess Elizabeth, smiles in a black-and-white portrait, wearing a riding hat and tailored jacket against a plain sky.

The young Elizabeth II: life before she was Queen. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Queen Elizabeth II, wearing a lilac polka-dot dress, matching hat with decorative trim, white gloves and a pearl necklace, smiles and chats with a young participant in a yellow shirt at a children’s rally in Honiara, Solomon Islands.

In pictures: Queen Elizabeth II on tour. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A Renaissance-style painting showing a woman in red and blue clothing with a patterned gold head covering nursing a curly‑haired child against a geometric patterned background

Medieval family planning: meet the strong-willed women who redefined motherhood in the Middle Ages. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A detailed marble relief shows several robed figures standing in a tight group around a cylindrical structure. Each figure has carefully carved drapery and expressive faces, with some holding scrolls or objects that suggest scholarly or religious roles.

Friends, Romans, citizens: why Rome opened its doors to people across the empire. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Composite image of two early medieval helmets: the ornate Sutton Hoo helmet on the left and a simpler Viking helmet on the right.

The Anglo-Saxons were terrified of Vikings. But were they really so different?

Episode 3How Alfred the Great saved the Anglo-Saxons from the Vikings. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Three prehistoric objects showing engraved markings, including a carved bone, a small decorated plaque, and a stone figure with incised lines.

40,000 years ago, our ancestors left these strange symbols behind. What do they really mean?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A collage combines several portraits and illustrations of rulers and notable figures, including people in regal robes, armour, and elaborate crowns, alongside a muscular figure drawn in a black‑and‑white engraving style.

16 of the worst monarchs in history

Would you eat a mummy to cure a disease?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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History crossword10 April. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

How to find a billion-dollar shipwreck. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A black-and-white photo of a bearded man in military attire speaking with armed soldiers, overlaid with the flags of the United States and Cuba

The Bay of Pigs Invasion: was this CIA fiasco JFK's worst embarrassment?

A stylised illustration shows sections of the Bayeux Tapestry rolled up and tied, standing upright inside an open cardboard box marked “special delivery”. The bright yellow background features faint imagery and text, evoking news coverage of the tapestry’s proposed loan.

Politics and the Bayeux Tapestry: the inside story of the blockbuster loan to the British Museum

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Is the Bayeux Tapestry coming to Britain or not?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A bald man in a dark suit and tie sits at a dinner table, looking slightly to his right. Behind him, another person stands holding a bottle with a visible label, as if serving or presenting it. The setting appears to be a formal meal or official gathering.

This secret speech gave people heart attacks: when Khrushchev denounced Stalin. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Medieval anatomical illustration of a human figure with labeled internal organs, set against a modern pink background.

This surprising medieval medical belief still shapes how we think about wellness

A fantastical history of fairies. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A graphic shows soldiers in historical battle formation with overlaid text reading “History’s Greatest Battles: The Wars of the Roses,” accompanied by stylized rose emblems

History's Greatest Battles: The Wars of the Roses. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A graphic shows soldiers in historical battle formation with overlaid text reading “History’s Greatest Battles: The Wars of the Roses,” accompanied by stylized rose emblems

Episode 5History's Greatest Battles: Bosworth. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A graphic shows soldiers in historical battle formation with overlaid text reading “History’s Greatest Battles: The Wars of the Roses,” accompanied by stylized rose emblems

Episode 4History's Greatest Battles: Tewkesbury. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.