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  1. Home
  2. Sex and love

Sex and love

Colour portrait of Jane Austen (1775–1817) drawn by her sister Cassandra. Dated 1810. (Photo by Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)
Georgian

Jane Austen: a guide to her life, books and death – plus 8 fascinating facts

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Victorian

Fern Riddell Sex: Lessons from History . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Portrait of Carlo Broschi (stage name Farinelli), the most famous opera singer of the 18th century. (Photo By DEA/A. DAGLI ORTI/De Agostini/Getty Images)
Georgian

Castrated Georgian opera stars: the stars of the 18th century

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Catherine Fletcher discusses what is known about the private life and relationships of the Renaissance polymath, and considers the historical inspirations for the new TV drama Leonardo. (Image by Getty Images)
Renaissance

Leonardo da Vinci’s private life

Drawing of an old and young man, possibly Salai, by Leonardo da Vinci
Renaissance

Leonardo da Vinci’s private relationships: what’s known?

Catherine Ostler shares the story of Elizabeth Chudleigh, a glamorous aristocrat whose high-profile bigamy trial fascinated 18th-century society. (Image by Getty Images)
Georgian

The bigamy trial that scandalised Georgian England

Nell Gwyn was a mistress of King Charles II
Stuart

Nell Gywn The orange girl who became a king's mistress in Restoration England

Broadcaster and author Cathy Newman shares stories of duos that changed the course of history. (Image by Getty Images)
20th Century

Rivalries and romances: couples that shook up history

An Athenian red-figure kylix (cup) dating from around 510–500 BC depicts a young pentathlete pulling his older lover towards him for a kiss. In many of the city-states of ancient Greece, sex between a man and a youth was an accepted – even idealised – form of love, its virtues extolled in works by writers including Plato. (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)
General ancient history

Pride and prejudice: same-sex relations through history

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Historian Carol Dyhouse talks about how women's lives, dreams and loves have transformed in the decades since 1950, from the advent of the pill to the impact of second-wave feminism. (Image by Alamy)
20th Century

Sex, romance and rights: women’s lives since 1950

Queen Victoria and her husband, Prince Albert, pictured in 1854. (Photo by Roger Fenton/Roger Fenton/Getty Images)
Victorian

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert: what was their relationship like?

An account of the story of James Allen, whose sex at birth was revealed only by an autopsy conducted after their death
Georgian

‘Female husbands’: the secret lives of 18th-century transgender pioneers

A portrait of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert with five of their nine children, by Frederick Winterhalter. (Photo by © Historical Picture Archive/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)
Victorian

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert: was their union a marriage of misery?

Queen Victoria in her coronation robes.
Victorian

Your guide to Queen Victoria and a timeline of her life – plus 16 fascinating facts

Portrait of Anne of Cleves
Tudor

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

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