Illustration of a couple

Sex and love

The Duke of Wellington and his ‘Dearest Georgy’.

(Photo by Chronicle/Alamy Stock Photo)

Who were 'Stella' and 'Fanny'?

Love, sex and marriage in ancient Egypt

A day in the life of Jane Austen.

General History

Q&AWhy are kissing gates so called and what is their significance as entrances to graveyards?

Adrian Turner as Poldark. (Photo by BBC Pictures)

Poldark’s Cornwall: the history behind the hit series

History’s most fascinating muses.

Dan Jones and Suzannah Lipscomb discuss Jane Seymour and Anne of Cleves

Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton star in the 1967 film adaptation of William Shakespeare's 'The Taming of the Shrew'. One of the playwright's most notorious couples, Katherine and Petruchio are far from a harmonious love match. (Photo by Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images)

Shakespeare’s 7 most notorious couples

Elizabeth I of England

Personal politics in Elizabeth I's court.

A portrait of Catherine Howard. (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

Catherine Howard: The death of innocence.

(Photo By DEA/G DAGLI ORTI/De Agostini/Getty Images)

The Tudor sex guide

An illustration of Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Not such a prude after all: the secrets of Henry VIII’s love life

Sex, scandals and betrayals: Charles II and his court

Photo of a couple holding up a fan

Q&AWhat signals were used in fan language?

In pictures: Victorian life

Regency scandal and the history of canals.

Anne Boleyn, who was executed by beheading on 19 May 1536 after being found guilty of high treason, was said to have had "much joy and pleasure in death". (Photo by Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Did Anne Boleyn crave the crown?.

Dying well; tears and sorrow on the death of a youth. Treasury of Wisdom, 15th century. (© The Art Archive/Alamy)

Heavenly dew: crying in the Middle Ages.

Love, health and the weather: 9 things medieval Londoners worried about.

Jane Austen

My history heroJane Austen (1775–1817).

Mary I’s phantom pregnancy.

The Victorians’ surprisingly liberal attitude towards gay men.

Food from the past and the history of illegitimacy.

Second World War

Second World War heroes ‘had most sex appeal’

Mistresses through history: the term wasn’t always about secret sex

A Valentine's card showing a devil spearing an old lady on a pitchfork.

In picturesVictorian Valentine's Cards

Love and marriage in Tudor England

From loincloths to corsets: a brief history of underwear with Horrible Histories’ Greg Jenner.

A statue of Aphrodite

Christianity’s rocky relationship with sex.