Kings and queens

A portrait of Elizabeth Woodville, queen of Edward IV. (Photo by The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)

8 things you (probably) didn’t know about the Woodvilles

A Tudor rose on a wooden ceiling beam.

Monarchy and faith in Tudor England

Buckingham Palace on VE Day in 1945. (Photo by Harry Todd/Fox Photos/Getty Images)

7 facts about Buckingham Palace

Elizabeth is borne from Westminster Abbey in a gold coach first used for the state opening of parliament by George III in 1762. (Getty Images)

Becoming Queen: Elizabeth II’s coronation

Portrait of Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII, who was born in around 1501 in Norfolk and executed by decapitation at Tower Green on 19 May 1536. (Photo by The Print Collector/Alamy Stock Photo)

11 things you (probably) didn’t know about Anne Boleyn

The first state visit by American President George W Bush in 2003 was highly controversial, attracting protesters opposed to the involvement of the United States and Britain in the Iraq War. Here the president is pictured with the Queen in 2008. (Photo by Tim Graham/Getty Images)

From pageantry to controversy: a brief history of state visits

Henry the Young King is crowned in 1170. (Wikimedia Commons)

The remarkable friendship between Henry the Young King and William Marshal

An oil portrait of Charlemagne (c747–814), King of the Franks, by 15th/16th-century artist Albrecht Durer. (Photo by Archive Photos/Getty Images)

The legacy of Charlemagne: how the king of the Franks continues to cast a shadow over Europe

7 things you (probably) didn’t know about Queen Victoria

Queen Victoria. (Getty Images)

Queen Victoria timeline: 9 milestones in the monarch’s life

Queen Victoria attends to matters of state. Illustration from 'The Life and Times of Queen Victoria' by Robert Wilson, (1900). (Photo by The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)

What was it like meeting Queen Victoria? 6 royal encounters as told by famous Victorians

Henry VI of England. (Photo by iStock/Getty Images)

Henry VI may have had a “sex coach” – plus 4 more curious facts about his life

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

After her recovery from smallpox, Queen Elizabeth I started using a ceruse foundation on her face, neck and chest. (Photo by: Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

5 weird habits of royals through history