Illustration of a couple

Sex and love

Queen Victoria pictured c1862 during her period of mourning

Prince Albert: the death that rocked the monarchy.

A man helps his partner to dress by lacing her corset. (Photo by Frank Martin)

Love in Georgian times.

An illustration of motors and cycles in Kensington High Street, opposite Holland House, London, from the Illustrated London News, 1903. (Photo by The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Lonely hearts and holiday flings: a brief history of dating.

The former Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson, for whom Edward gave up the throne in 1936, sparking a crisis that rocked the British monarchy. The couple are pictured here in 1939. (Photo by Keystone-France\Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)

The 7 most romantic moments in history.

A 19th-century portrait of Queen Elizabeth I. (Photo by Print Collector/Getty Images)

Elizabeth I’s love life: was she really a ‘Virgin Queen’?

Olivia Colman as Queen Anne in the film The Favourite, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos. (Photo by Alamy)

The true history of The Favourite.

Britain's Prince William and Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, make the journey by carriage procession to Buckingham Palace following their wedding ceremony on April 29, 2011 in London. (Image by Matt Cardy/AFP/Getty Images)

Kate Middleton: a modern royal woman.

The National Portrait Gallery attributed this unfinished portrait to Jane Austen’s sister, Cassandra, and dated it to circa 1810. (Universal History Archive / Getty Images)

What did Jane Austen really look like?

Queen Victoria, c1860s. Victoria attended her son's wedding in March 1863 wearing full mourning dress – her husband, Prince Albert, had died some 15 months earlier. (Photo by © Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

Troublesome royal in-laws through history.

A portrait of Henry VIII with Prince Edward, his son by his third wife, Jane Seymour. If the future Henry IX had survived, there may have been no cause for Henry to annul his marriage to Katherine of Aragon and marry Anne Boleyn in 1533, says Amy Licence. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

6 royal births that changed the world (or could have).

Diana, Princess Of Wales, Prince William And Prince Harry visit Thorpe Park amusement park. (Photo by Julian Parker/UK Press via Getty Images)

How to raise a royal... with Tracy Borman.

Portrait of Jane Seymour, third wife of Henry VIII, 1536. (Photo by Imagno/Getty Images)

Henry VIII's six wives in a different light.

An engraving showing the story of the Three Living and the Three Dead

Inside the medieval mind.

While young ladies may have been daydreaming of handsome film stars such as Cary Grant, pictured here kissing the cheek of Ingrid Bergman in a publicity still for the 1946 film ‘Notorious’, agony aunts were keen to bring them back down to earth. (Photo by John Springer Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

How to be a man: tips from 1930s agony aunts.

A Campaign for Homosexual Equality rally held in London’s Trafalgar Square in 1974. The Sexual Offences Act of 1967 helped pave the way for activism such as this in the 1970s, says Florence Sutcliffe-Braithwaite. (Corbis via Getty Images)

The 1967 Sexual Offences Act: a landmark moment in the history of British homosexuality.

A view of a calander showing the date, Friday the 13th. (Photo by William C. Shrout/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)

10 historical superstitions we carry on today.

Chastity belt decorated with a flower design and a heart pierced with arrows. (SSPL/Getty Images)

13 weird historical facts.

Portrait of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. (Photo by Ken Welsh/Design Pics/Corbis via Getty Images)

Princely pleasures at Kenilworth: Robert Dudley's three-week marriage proposal to Elizabeth I.

A group of men wearing togas assault Julius Caesar in this painting depicting his assassination.

Violence, rebellion and sexual exploitation: the darker side of Ancient Rome

3 of the most famous royal weddings in history

A portrait of actress Nell Gwynn, longtime mistress to King Charles II.

From Nell to Meghan: 10 romances between actors and royals.

A Georgian painting depicting children leaving for school

The Georgian guide to perfect parenting.

The future Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, at Buckingham Palace following their wedding, 20 November 1947. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Royal wedding traditions through history: etiquette, menus and the dress code.

Elizabeth Woodville and Edward IV

When royals marry ‘commoners’: a brief history.

Elizabeth’s love rival.

Nefertiti

Has the world been blinded by Nefertiti’s beauty?.

Winston Graham's Poldark novels remind us of aspects of the past that might otherwise remain in the shadows, says Hannah Greig. (Image credit: Mammoth screen/BBC)

The real history behind 'Poldark' series three: episode nine

Austen’s influences: Lucy Worsley on the author’s life and work.

Jane Austen and Tudor London.

Anonymous engraving, master of the garden of love, 15th century, France, Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale. (Photo by: Photo12/UIG via Getty Images)

7 ways to say “I love you” in medieval Europe