Plantagenet

King Edward IV, who used the surname Plantagenet. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Q&A When did British kings and queens start using surnames?

Oil on canvas of the Princes in the Tower

An enigma at the heart of British history: who killed the Princes in the Tower, Edward V and Richard Duke of York?

As a child king, Henry VI – shown in a c16th-century portrait – learned the lessons of kingship from books. Unfortunately, those books didn't extol the merits of ruthlessness and practising realpolitik. (Photo by Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

How Henry VI’s love of peace cost him the throne – and his life

My history hero: Robert Lindsay chooses Richard III

Historian Nick Barratt.

Medieval civil war

A vintage colour lithograph depicting King Richard III at the battle of Bosworth. The battle of Bosworth (or Bosworth Field) was the last significant battle of the Wars of the Roses, the civil war between the Houses of Lancaster and York. (Photo by Getty Images)

The battle for Bosworth field: Historians react to decision to build on battlefield where Richard III died

Nick Barratt.

York History Weekend

York History Weekend 2018: 5 minutes with Nick Barratt

George Goodwin.

Winchester History Weekend 2018: 5 minutes with George Goodwin

The ‘Princes in the Tower’: Edward V and his younger brother Richard, Duke of York, disappeared in mysterious circumstances following the death of their father, King Edward IV. (The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)

6 notorious unsolved crimes from history

Historian John Ashdown-Hill

Richard III historian John Ashdown-Hill dies

Elizabeth Woodville and Edward IV

General History

When royals marry ‘commoners’: a brief history

The ‘Princes in the Tower’

The 5 greatest mysteries behind the Wars of the Roses

Memorial cross at Flodden Field, site of Battle of Flodden 1513, Northumberland, 1994. (Photo by English Heritage/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

8 of Britain’s best battlefields

GettyImages-520681987 4

History quiz – prison escapes and the princes in the Tower

Portrait of Henry V of England

My history hero: Henry V