Kings

In this handout image provided by Imperial Household Agency, Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko attend the abdication ceremony at the Imperial Palace on April 30, 2019 in Tokyo, Japan.

For the First Time in 200 Years, Japan’s Emperor Has Abdicated the Throne

Emperor Akihito has voluntarily passed the title on to his son, Crown Prince Naruhito

Artist's depiction of "Henry," a teenaged sailor on the Mary Rose.

DNA Shows Ethnically Diverse Crew Sailed Henry VIII's Flagship

The research on the skeletons found near the wreck suggests there were sailors and marines on board who came from North Africa and the Mediterranean

Antique dealer Ian Coulson purchased the bed, then advertised as a Victorian era frame, for £2,200 in 2010.

Henry VII’s Marriage Bed May Have Spent 15 Years in a British Hotel’s Honeymoon Suite

Some experts say the ornately carved oak bed was commissioned for the wedding of the first Tudor king and his queen, Elizabeth of York

Mini Terracotta Army Unearthed in China

A Han Dynasty-era pit includes 300 soldiers, guard towers, farm animals and everything else a noble might need in the afterlife

Bruce is alternately painted as a patriot whose perseverance secured his nation’s independence and a more shadowy figure with dangerous ambitions

The True Story of Robert the Bruce, Scotland’s 'Outlaw King'

Chris Pine stars as the Netflix film’s eponymous hero, who secures his country’s independence but leaves behind a tangled legacy

Look inside, if you dare. Or if you have a forensics degree.

Is This the Bag That Held Sir Walter Raleigh's Mummified Head?

Legend has it his wife retained his embalmed head. But while the sack dates to the correct era and was found in his son's home, scholars are not convinced

The contemporary Wolf Hall manor stands on the same property as the lost 16th-century estate

Archaeologists Unearth Foundations of Wolf Hall, Where Henry VIII Fell for Jane Seymour

The team’s finds include a network of Tudor-era brick sewers, the foundations of two towers and ornate tiles

Pembroke Castle's outer ward, seen from the south.

Excavation at Welsh Castle May Shed Light on the Mystery of Henry VII’s Birthplace

Archaeologists say the Tudor king was likely born in a high-status residence in the castle’s outer ward

The Bard's early life continues to be illuminated.

Docs Show Shakespeare's Father Had Legal and Financial Trouble Throughout the Bard's Teen Years

Twenty-one documents found in the U.K.'s National Archives add context to the Bard's feelings toward power and monarchy

Pocket-Sized Bible Returns to Canterbury Cathedral After 500 Years

The volume was lost after Henry VIII ordered the dissolution of the cathedral’s monastery

The Royal Library where the bill was found

The Prince Who Preordered Jane Austen’s First Novel

The future George IV was a big fan of the author, a feeling she half-heartedly reciprocated with a dedication years later

Now That the Smog Has Lifted, Astronomy Returns to London's Royal Observatory

A new telescope that filters out light pollution and interference will watch the stars from the site constructed in 1675

Scanning Tut's tomb

Sorry, There Are No Secret Chambers in King Tut's Tomb

After two contradictory radar scans, Egypt's Ministry of Antiquities commissioned a third comprehensive survey that revealed no voids beyond the tomb walls

Why Swaziland Is Now the Kingdom of eSwatini

The king has declared it will use its pre-colonial Swazi name from now on

Tut and Ankhesenamun

Archaeologists Could Be Close to Finding the Tomb of King Tut's Wife

After Tut's death, Ankhesenamun might have wed the Pharaoh Ay, and there's a possibility she's buried near him in the Valley of the Monkeys

The 910-carat diamond discovered in Lesotho

World's Fifth-Largest Diamond Found in Lesotho

The 910-carat gem is a D-color, type-IIa stone, meaning it is completely colorless and has no visible impurities

Frederick II was the first "modern" ornithologist, studying birds in detail in the 13th century to fuel his passion for falconry.

The Modern History of Ornithology Starts With This Inquisitive Medieval Emperor

Frederick II got up to a lot in his lifetime

John Michael Wright's portrait of King Charles II, in the Royal Collection

How Charles II Used Art to Bolster Britain’s Struggling Monarchy

A new exhibit at the Queen’s Gallery in London features more than 200 items from the collection of the “Merry Monarch”

A cameraman at the coronation of King George V.

Why Do We Call TV Watchers ‘Viewers’?

It all goes back to a quirky BBC subcommittee working in the 1930s to change the English language

Queen Liliuokalani

Five Things To Know About Liliʻuokalani, the Last Queen of Hawaiʻi

The queen, who was deposed by a coup led by American sugar planters, died more than 100 years ago, but is by no means forgotten

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