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Kings and queens

James VI and I depicted in Parliament, c1605

The history of the Crown’s relationship with parliament: 6 key moments

Richard III, anonymous painting around 1500. (Photo by Alamy)

The house of York

Three of the children of Henry VII: Prince Henry; Arthur Prince of Wales and Princess Margaret

Royal sibling rivalry: Henry VIII, Richard III and other monarchs whose fate was determined by their brothers and sisters

Queen of hearts: When Catherine's husband Tsar Peter III alienated his people, they instead turned to his wife, and she was proclaimed the rightful ruler.

General Early Modern

Catherine the Great: the first woman to rule Russia

The 1969 documentary was made amid a feeling that there was an increasing awareness of a need to ‘sell’ the monarchy to the people, writes historian Sarah Gristwood. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

‘Royal Family’: the fly-on-the-wall documentary the Palace doesn’t want you to see

Portrait of Marie Antoinette in deep mourning, while in prison

The final days of Marie Antoinette

An illustration of the head of Louis XVI

The French Revolution through 7 severed heads

The three siblings Richard III, Edward IV and George, Duke of Clarence were meant to be on the same side in the Wars of the Roses. But, says Thomas Penn, their relationship was defined by jealousy, backstabbing and even murder.

Blood brothers: Richard III’s battle with his siblings

Tutankhamun’s golden funeral mask. (Leemage/Corbis via Getty Images)

8 things you (probably) didn’t know about Tutankhamun

War criminal? William the Conqueror shown on horseback in the Bayeux Tapestry. The king's Harrying of the North was a military success but a human catastrophe – one that even appalled chroniclers traditionally sympathetic to the Norman regime. (Photo by Bridgeman)

Was William the Conqueror a war criminal? The brutal story of the Harrying of the North

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

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

Canterbury Cathedral

The unholy feud that killed Thomas Becket

Left: Prince Charles and Princess Diana on their wedding day, 29 July 1981. Right: Prince William and Catherine Middleton on their wedding day, 29 April 2011. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

The 8 most famous royal weddings in British history

Ellie Woodacre.

Winchester History Weekend

“What about the queens whose lives were equally as exciting as Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots?”: 5 minutes with Ellie Woodacre

Portrait of Anne of Cleves

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