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c1656: A plague doctor in protective clothing. The beak mask held spices thought to purify air, while the wand was used to avoid touching patients. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Q&AWhy did 17th-century plague doctors wear peculiar beaked masks?

Portrait of Queen Anne

Queen Anne's reputation: why isn't she more fondly remembered?.

Photo of the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles

The palace of Versailles: Sun King Louis XIV's ultimate power play

A portrait of Charles I. (Photo by Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Has history been unfair to Charles I?.

Elizabeth II and Prince Philip with their third son, Prince Edward, on the balcony at Buckingham Palace. (Photo by Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

A brief history of royal mothers and childbirth.

Henrietta Boyle

Fashion history: dressing to impress in the 17th century.

William of Orange landing at Torbay, 1688

Your guide to...the Glorious Revolution

Thomas Blood stealing the Crown Jewels

The day Thomas Blood stole the Crown Jewels.

6 lesser-known facts about the Ottoman Empire

Puritans and the Mayflower.

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?.

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

An illustration of Jeffrey Hudson and Queen Henrietta Maria

The amazing life of Jeffrey Hudson, the queen's dwarf

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

12 facts about the Stuarts

A portrait of Louis XIV in 1701.

From musketeers to Macron: 10 remarkable facts about the Sun King, Louis XIV

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

A brief history of Thanksgiving.

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.

Sketch of Guy Fawkes with a lantern kneeling in front of barrels of gunpowder

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

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

Illustration of pirate John Ward

Pirate John Ward: the real Captain Jack Sparrow

1651, Charles Prince of Wales (1630 - 1685) (later King Charles II of England) meets Sir Henry Lee near Oxford during the Civil War, while escaping after the Battle of Worcester.

How Charles II put Britain back together after the Civil War.

5 reasons why the King James version of the Bible matters.

The historical differences between Scottish and English Law, and what it means for Brexit.

Suzannah Lipscomb on women’s lives in Reformation France.

A 16th-century portrait of Mary, Queen of Scots. (Photo by The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Mary, Queen of Scots: the real history behind the film

William of Orange at the battle of the Boyne

Q&AWhen was England last successfully invaded by a foreign power?

Mary, Queen of Scots and her ladies-in-waiting. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Mary, Queen of Scots: what happened to her ladies-in-waiting?