Dr nicola tallis on how we should view mary i’s reign today

Richmond Palace, 22 March 1603. Elizabeth I – the self-proclaimed Virgin Queen who had ruled England for 44 years, seeing off the Armada, healing religious divisions and creating a court so magnificen

How one monarch unified his nation and created a medieval superpower

this story: Edgar Ætheling, Edward’s great-nephew. We know, of course, which one of these contenders held the crown in his possession at the end of the year. What is less certain is who was the most d

Charlotte Mullins comments on Elizabeth I when a Princess

Even with her 96 years of wisdom and experience, it is unlikely Queen Elizabeth II could have fully envisioned the monumental shifts that have defined the three years since her death on 8 September 20

With a strength of character that belied her fragile looks, Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun pushed the boundaries of royal portraiture and, after the French Revolution, challenged the loss of female influence via every frill and fold in her work