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Three monarchs who stepped down through history: Kaiser Wilhem II; Anne of Cleves; and James VII and II. (Images by Getty)

Retiring royals: 9 rulers and royals who stepped down through history

The Persian ambassador bows before Louis XIV in the Palace of Versailles

King of the world: how Louis XIV turned France into a global power

A 'Thanksgiving Greetings' postcard. (Photo by K.J. Historical/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

A brief history of Thanksgiving

Roman toilet

Tales of the toilet: a historical A–Z

Queen Victoria with Prince Albert and their children in 1846. After a painting by F Winterhalter. Victoria’s husband, Albert, “carved out for the crown a moral kind of authority as the nation’s first and model family,” says Sarah Gristwood. (Photo by Culture Club/Getty Images)

Retaining the royals: why has the British monarchy survived – and thrived?

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

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

Guy Fawkes was a conspirator in the gunpowder plot to destroy the Houses of Parliament, c1606. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot: everything you need to know

Queen Victoria, 1876

Top 11 monarchs in British history

Fireworks on Guy Fawkes Day c1800

A very short history of bonfire night

An illustration of the Gunpowder Plot principal conspirators, copied from a rare print published at the time (5 November 1605). (Photo by Fototeca Gilardi/Getty Images).

Bonfire Night: a 400-year-old political hot potato

Trick photograph. (Photo by LM Melander and Brothers) entitled 'The Haunted Lane,' depicts a pair of men terrified by a female ghost, mid-to-late 19th century. (Photo by PhotoQuest/Getty Images)

5 historic hauntings for Halloween

James VI and I depicted in Parliament, c1605

Queen Elizabeth I’s ‘Golden Speech’ and 5 more key moments in the history of crown and parliament

Being invited to become a 'guest' of the Tower of London in medieval England meant, more often than not, that you would soon be food for the crows. (Image by Getty Images/RM Creative)

10 historical haunted sites across Britain

The Monteagle letter, which shares a warning about the Gunpowder Plot. (National Archives)

In their own words: 6 of history’s most fascinating letters