Stuart

A 1646 engraving of John Lilburne behind bars. The outspoken critic of successive governments spent half his life imprisoned or in exile. (Photo by Rischgitz/Getty Images)

John Lilburne: the rebel they couldn’t gag

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Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, supervises the removal of fittings from a room at Kensington Palace, which she had occupied as lady in waiting to Queen Anne of England. The wife of John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, and a trusted confidante to Queen Anne, she was politically highly influential until her dismissal in 1711. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

5 women who challenged the Westminster boys’ club in the 18th century

Queen Anne, based on a work by Sir Godfrey Kneller, c1702–10. Anne's reign saw women take centre stage in fierce political debates. (Photo by Bridgeman/National Trust Photographic Library)

Queen Anne's feuding favourites

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'The Young Princes in the Tower', 1831. (Photo by The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Anne Boleyn, Beefeaters, Guy Fawkes and the princes: a brief history of the Tower of London

Queen Elizabeth II (centre) makes her 2016 Christmas speech (Photo by YUI MOK/AFP/Getty Images). What would queens before her have said in their festive speeches, if they'd had the chance? Clockwork from top right: Elizabeth I (Photo by Imagno/Getty Images); Queen Anne (Photo by Culture Club/Getty Images); Mary Tudor (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images) and Queen Matilda (Photo by Culture Club/Getty Images)

Alternative Queen’s Christmas speeches: what would Elizabeth I and Matilda have said?

A portrait of Mary, Queen of Scots. (Photo by Leemage/Corbis via Getty Images)

12 facts about the Stuarts

'Merry Christmas' Victorian illustration of Santa Claus holding toys and blowing on a trumpet, chromolithograph, 1915. (Illustration by GraphicaArtis/Getty Images)

A brief history of Santa Claus

Illustration by Femke de Jong

Does it always pay to trust the cash in your pockets?

Engraved portrait of Mary, Queen of Scots. (Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images).

In profile: Mary, Queen of Scots

Mary, Queen of Scots (reigned 1542–67) was “absolutely useless as queen of Scotland”, says historian Sean Lang. (Photo by The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)

9 of the worst monarchs in history

Battle of Culloden. (Photo by Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images)

General prehistory

10 things you (probably) didn’t know about Scottish history

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

A brief history of Thanksgiving

A portrait of Charles I.

Has history been unfair to Charles I?

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Queen Victoria on an ivory throne, 1876. (W. & D. Downey/Getty Images)

Top 11 monarchs in British history