Accessibility Links

The official website for BBC History Magazine and BBC World Histories Magazine

Subscribe to BBC History Magazine
  1. Home
  2. Kings and queens

Kings and queens

Attempted assassination of Queen Victoria (1819-1901). On the evening of Wednesday 10 June 1840 Victoria and Prince Albert were travelling in a carriage along Constitution Hill near Buckingham Palace, London, when Edward Oxford fired a pistol at the Queen
Victorian

The man who tried to assassinate Queen Victoria

York Minster's south transept rose window features 16th-century Tudor Roses white on red (left) and Lancastrian Roses, red. The Tudor Rose became known as “the flower of England” and is today England's national flower. (Angelo Hornak/Alamy Stock Photo)
Ancient Egypt

A brief history of the English rose

Advertisement
Lady Jane Grey's execution, as imagined by painter Paul Delaroche in 1833. (Photo by VCG Wilson/Corbis via Getty Images)
Tudor

Lady Jane Grey: why do we want to believe the myth?

The former Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson, for whom Edward gave up the throne in 1936, sparking a crisis that rocked the British monarchy. The couple are pictured here in 1939. (Photo by Keystone-France\Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)
General Modern

The 7 most romantic moments in history

Olivia Colman as Queen Anne in 'The Favourite'. (Photo by Twentieth Century Fox/Entertainment Pictures)
Stuart

The Favourite: the real history behind the new Queen Anne film

A c1610 portrait of Mary, Queen of Scots, a "charming and ill-fated woman brought down by forces beyond her control". (DeAgostini/Getty Images)
Tudor

The Library The downfall of Mary, Queen of Scots

Princess Margaret attends the premiere of Captain Horatio Hornblower, Leicester Square, 1951. (Photo by Ron Burton/Keystone/Getty Images)
20th Century

The Queen’s “rebel sister”: 8 facts about Princess Margaret

Princess Elizabeth 1939
20th Century

The young Elizabeth II: life before she was Queen

Subscribe for unlimited access to The Library
Unlock now
Advertisement
Queen Victoria and Prince Albert
Victorian

Love before Prince Albert: Queen Victoria’s suitors

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

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

An illustration of King Arthur's coronation, from the 13th-century Flores Historiarum. Taken from ‘The Island Race’, a 20th-century book written by Sir Winston Churchill that covers the history of the British Isles from pre-Roman times to the Victorian era. (Photo by World History Archive/Alamy Stock Photo)
Medieval

8 things you (probably) didn’t know about King Arthur

Illustration of Isabella of France. From the book ‘Our Queen Mothers’ by Elizabeth Villiers. (Photo by Universal History Archive/Getty Images)
Medieval

Isabella of France: the rebel queen

Subscribe for unlimited access to The Library
Unlock now
Circa 1540, Portrait of Henry VIII of England (1491-1547). Reigned 1509-47. Executed three wives and Thomas More, made union of England and Wales. (Photo by Stock Montage/Getty Images)
Tudor

Speaker Q&A Robert Hutchinson on Henry VIII

Queen Victoria, who “displayed a healthy enjoyment of food and drink throughout her life”, says food historian Rebecca Earle. (Getty Images)
Victorian

Queen Victoria’s voracious appetite for food and sex