Women's history

Queen Victoria, who “displayed a healthy enjoyment of food and drink throughout her life”, says food historian Rebecca Earle. (Getty Images)

Queen Victoria’s voracious appetite for food and sex

English journalist and broadcaster Jenni Murray at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, 2017. (Photo by Roberto Ricciuti/Getty Images)

World-changing women

A portrait of Elizabeth I, c1565. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

The 10 best English queens in history

A maid polishes a silver dish. Female domestic servants were highly vulnerable to sexual exploitation, but in Reformation France they found some ways to fight back. (Photo by: Christophel Fine Art/UIG via Getty Images)

The Library The women who wouldn’t be silenced in Reformation France

Petra Kelly. “Through sheer force of will, Petra Kelly put green politics on the map. Her success in Germany in the 1980s inspired green parties across the world to shake things up,” says Caroline Lucas. (Photo by Schulze-Vorberg/ullstein bild via Getty Images)

My history hero: Caroline Lucas chooses Petra Kelly (1947–92)

A 16th-century portrait of Mary, Queen of Scots. (Photo by The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Mary, Queen of Scots: the real history behind the film

Sir Godfrey Kneller's portrait of Anne Stuart. Following the 1707 Acts of Union, she would be queen of Great Britain and Ireland. (Photo by Getty Images)

“A charming, popular monarch”: Tracy Borman on Queen Anne

French writer Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette and husband Willy, photographed c1902. (Photo by Apic/Getty Images)

Who was the real Colette?

Max Adams. (Photo by Kona Macphee/Royal Literary Fund)

Remarkable women through history

Portrait of Anne of Cleves

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

Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, supervises the removal of fittings from a room at Kensington Palace, which she had occupied as lady in waiting to Queen Anne of England. The wife of John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, and a trusted confidante to Queen Anne, she was politically highly influential until her dismissal in 1711. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

5 women who challenged the Westminster boys’ club in the 18th century

Queen Anne, based on a work by Sir Godfrey Kneller, c1702–10. Anne's reign saw women take centre stage in fierce political debates. (Photo by Bridgeman/National Trust Photographic Library)

The Library Queen Anne's feuding favourites

Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire, England. (Photo by Getty Images)

The house that Bess built: the secrets of Hardwick Hall

Mary, Queen of Scots craved the throne occupied by her cousin Elizabeth I (pictured). Theirs was a relationship defined by plots, massacres, assassinations and ultimately, the executioner's sword. (Photo by Robert Alexander/Getty Images)

Deadly Rivals: Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots