Illustration of a couple

Sex and love

A detailed Persian miniature painting showing a central figure seated on a raised platform beneath a decorated canopy, surrounded by a halo of flames. Attendants and courtiers in colourful robes and turbans sit or stand around them, with trays of food, vessels, and fans arranged in the scene. Stylized hills, flowers, and animals fill the background, all rendered in intricate patterns and bright colours.

12 modern trends with surprisingly ancient roots. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A seated person wearing an elaborate costume poses with one hand resting on their face. They wear a large, ornate headdress with wing‑like extensions and pearls, and a richly decorated outfit with detailed embroidery and an eagle motif on the chest.

"It wasn't very open about its queer connections": the hidden history of the National Trust. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A coloured engraving showing a large group queuing up to go into a dance ball. Each couple is holding hands, and the men are wearing high necked suits and the women are in long colourful gowns

Lonely hearts and holiday flings: a brief history of dating. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Episode 2High society’s most DANGEROUS liaison | Henrietta Grosvenor and the king's brother. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

An illustration showing a royal purple robe being lifted from the ground, with some dust being swept under it with a dustpan and brush

The prince and the brothel: 6 scandals that rocked the British monarchy. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Did Hitler have sexual relations with Eva Braun? What my research reveals about the Führer's love life. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Nero's doomed love affair: did a failed romance trigger his descent into madness?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A large illustration of Henry VIII with several images imprinted on him

Porpoise for breakfast and late night sex visits: Henry VIII's life in a day. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A pink flower with various contraptions in the background

From goat eyelids to bread: history's 12 strangest sex toys. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A selection of illustrations of medical procedures, including childbirth and someone vomiting, around a circular chart that depicts flasks of different coloured urine

Marvellous medieval medicine: why their curious cures were better than you think. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Did Queen Victoria and John Brown have a SECRET child?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Episode 7Tudor love and sex: inside the 16th-century bedroom. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A painting shows a topless woman sitting up in bed, holding her hand against the face of the man leaning over her

What did the Tudors think was ‘good’ sex? These tips and tricks were key to relationships in the 16th century

An edited image of a man with long curly hair and a lacy ruff. The right hand side of his face is colour inverted so it appears black with a red eye

The sinister secrets of Samuel Pepys. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

To the left, there is a black and white image of Queen Victoria. She is dressed in dark clothing and has her hair partially pulled back by a black fastening. Facing her, on the right is an image of John Brown, a bearded man wearing military uniform and a hat. Over them, there is a pink treatment with a rip in it

How I uncovered Victoria's secret love: Historian Fern Riddell explains all. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Paint your own pot, like an ancient Etruscan. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Two green hearts are sideways, facing each other. In each there is an image: one has a painting of Elizabeth I and the other has a painting of the Duke of Anjou

The Virgin Queen? Elizabeth I's forbidden love. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Are Bertha and George Russell real? Inside the real Vanderbilt divorces that rocked the Gilded Age

A timeless love story? Abélard and Héloïse’s passionate affair. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Rich men, reckless affairs and ruined reputations: the scandalous lives of London's 18th-century courtesans. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Sex lives of the Anglo-Saxons. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

JFK and Marilyn Monroe

“Risks he should never have taken”: a historian’s take on JFK’s sexual waywardness

Cleopatra, Julius Caesar and Mark Antony: how the last pharaoh's love affairs shaped Ancient Egypt's fate

St. Angela Merici explaining rules to eight sisters at founding of Ursuline Order, 17th century.

Why sex was a sin. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

An engraving of Mr Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett for Jane Austen's novel 'Pride and Prejudice' (Photo by Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Honeymooning with your mother-in-law? The truths of Regency romance. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Queen Catherine the Great and (inset) a horse

Did Catherine the Great really have sex with a horse?

Portrait of Jane Austen as a young woman.

The real reason Jane Austen never married

Twr Mawr Lighthouse and St Dwynwen's stone cross at sunrise on Llanddwyn Island on Anglesey.

Who was St Dwynwen?The legend of the Welsh patron saint of lovers

Sex and Christianity: 2,000 years of love and fury. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Zeus, king of the ancient Greek gods, seen in a 16th-century fresco by Pietro Bonaccorsi at Villa del Principe in Genoa, Italy

Zeus's children: who were the offspring of the god with a libido that couldn’t be contained