British queens

From Eleanor of Aquitaine to Anne Boleyn, these queens shaped British history...

A portrait of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert with five of their nine children, by Frederick Winterhalter

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert: was their union a marriage of misery?

Queen Victoria

The final days and death of Queen Victoria

Queen Victoria in her coronation robes.

Your guide to Queen Victoria and a timeline of her life – plus 16 fascinating facts

Portrait of Anne of Cleves

Anne of Cleves: Henry VIII's most successful queen?

Rushton Triangular Lodge was ostensibly a warrener's lodge but the biblical references that adorn its three exterior walls tell a different story. (Photo English Heritage/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

History explorer: Catholic resistance to Elizabeth I.

Princess Elizabeth, later Queen Elizabeth II, with her husband Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, after their marriage in 1947. (Corbis via Getty Images)

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip: 8 milestones in their marriage

Queen Victoria

Queen Victoria’s voracious appetite for food and sex

Katherine of Aragon, the first wife of Henry VIII. National Portrait Gallery, London. (Photo by PHAS/UIG via Getty Images)

The lost heirs of Henry VIII: Alison Weir on Katherine of Aragon’s failed pregnancies

Queen Victoria with her children and grandchildren

The marriages of Queen Victoria’s grandchildren: how the dynasty shaped Europe

Elizabeth I, shown in a portrait commemorating victory over the Armada

Elizabeth I: a guide to her life and rule, plus 7 facts you might not know

A portrait of Queen Anne of Great Britain and Ireland.

Your guide to Queen Anne, the last of the Stuart monarchs

A portrait of Elizabeth I, c1565

The 10 best English queens in history

Portrait of Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester (1532–88) an English nobleman. Dated 16th century. (Photo by: Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

Robert Dudley: Queen Elizabeth I's great love

Queen Victoria of Great Britain with her husband, Prince Albert, and their nine children. (Photo by Rischgitz/Getty Images)

Queen Victoria’s children

Queen Victoria c1870

What did Queen Victoria really look like?

Queen Victoria on an ivory throne

Top 11 monarchs in British history

Princess Elizabeth 1939

The young Elizabeth II: life before she was Queen.

c1895: Queen Victoria with her family. Standing left to right: Princess Helena Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein; Prince Henry of Battenberg; Count Arthur Mensdorff-Pouilly; Beatrice, Princess Henry of Battenberg; George, Duke of York. Seated left to right: Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg; Queen Victoria; Victoria Mary, Duchess of York holding Prince Edward of York; Prince Arthur of Connaught; and Prince Alexander of Battenberg. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Who were Queen Victoria's children? Everything you need to know about her sons and daughters

Mary I: the forgotten trailblazer.

Archduchess Ileana’s great grandmother, Queen Victoria, whose birth certificate Ileana desperately needed to get hold of (Getty)

Queen Victoria and the Nazis: the strange tale of the search for the royal family's Aryan origins.

The portrait of Queen Elizabeth I known as the Ditchley portrait

What did Queen Elizabeth I really look like at 60?

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?

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

Q&AWhen did British kings and queens start using surnames?.

Osborne House from terrace.

Inside Osborne: Queen Victoria and Prince Albert's island residence.

The food served at the wedding of Joffrey Baratheon and Margaery Tyrell may be inspired by accounts of ancient Roman excess, says Ayelet Haimson Lushkov. (© Home Box Office, Inc/Sky Atlantic)

Power plays and scheming queens: the ancient history behind Game of Thrones.

Catherine Hanley tells the story of Empress Matilda, whose battle for the English throne became known as ‘the anarchy’. (Photo by Jeni Nott for BBC History Magazine)

Empress Matilda: Medieval warrior queen.

Catherine Hanley talks to Ellie Cawthorne about Matilda, the legitimate daughter of Henry I. (Photographed for BBC History Magazine by Jeni Nott).

Catherine Hanley on Matilda: "Honestly, if I were her, I'd have wanted to put my fist through a wall".

Queen Victoria’s pets and animals.

The downfall of Mary, Queen of Scots.

A 19th-century portrait of Queen Elizabeth I. (Photo by Print Collector/Getty Images)

Elizabeth I’s love life: was she really a ‘Virgin Queen’?