Kings and queens

Norman Davies introduces a long-maligned and overlooked monarch, George II, and reveals that there are in fact many reasons to remember his reign. (Image from Getty Images)

George II: reassessing a much-forgotten monarch

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

Queen Elizabeth I dancing with Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. Artist unknown. (© Lebrecht Music and Arts Photo Library/Alamy)

Tudor tunes: music at the courts of Henry VIII, Elizabeth I and James VI and I

An illustration of the head of Louis XVI

Guillotined in the French Revolution: the bloody story through 7 severed heads

A 1628 engraving of the Spanish siege of the Dutch city of Breda

Was James VI and I murdered?

An illustration of Elizabeth of York and Henry VII.

Did the Tudors invent the Wars of the Roses?

The Three Lions crest. A trio of lions has appeared on the arms of every English (and British) monarch since the late 12th century, and has been flown as a battle standard on English soil and abroad. (Photo by Marc Atkins/Offside/Getty Images)

Q&A Why are there three lions on the shirts of the English football team?

From left to right: Queen Isabella of Castile; French regent Anne de Beaujeu; and Catherine of Aragon. (Photos by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/DeAgostini/Imagno/Getty Images)

Game of Queens: when women ruled Renaissance Europe

A portrait of Henry VII, the first Tudor king of England, by Michiel Sittow. (Photo by Universal History Archive/Getty Images)

Medieval monarchy timeline: from the Norman Conquest to the Tudors

Eleanor of Woodstock, eldest daughter of Edward II, whom you can read more about in the April 2019 issue of BBC History Magazine. Medieval princesses had more agency than we might think says historian Kelcey Wilson-Lee. (Image by Alamy)

7 things you didn’t know a medieval princess could do

Anne Neville was queen consort of Richard III, the last Yorkist king of England

Anne Neville: wife of Richard III, daughter of Warwick the Kingmaker, and a modern enigma

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5 things you (probably) didn’t know about the Plantagenets

Eleanor of Aquitaine depicted in a 12th-century prayer book

The real Eleanor of Aquitaine: 5 myths about the medieval queen

Pregnant woman before giving birth in the 13th century

16 things you (probably) didn’t know about the rituals behind royal births, from the medieval era to the present day

Richard I on a Chertsey tile

Does Richard I deserve his reputation as a martial genius?