Queens

Anne Boleyn was the only Tudor figure beheaded with a sword instead of an ax.

Why Henry VIII Orchestrated Every Detail of Anne Boleyn's Execution

The Tudor king had his disgraced queen killed by beheading rather than burning

The second season of "The Spanish Princess" presents a highly dramatized version of the Battle of Flodden. In actuality, the queen (seen here in a c. 1520 portrait) never rode directly into battle.

When Catherine of Aragon Led England's Armies to Victory Over Scotland

In 1513, Henry VIII's first queen—acting as regent in her husband's absence—secured a major triumph at the Battle of Flodden

Sarah Forbes Bonetta, as seen in 1856 (left) and 1862 (right). Hannah Uzor's new portrait is based on the 1862 photograph.

The Little-Known Story of Queen Victoria's Black Goddaughter

A newly commissioned portrait of Sarah Forbes Bonetta is now on view at the monarch's seaside house, Osbourne

The Golden Coach, as seen during Budget Day celebrations in 2011

Why Is the Dutch Royal Family's Golden Carriage So Controversial?

Critics say the coach, which is set to go on view at a museum next June, features racist, colonialist imagery

George IV commissioned architect John Nash to design Buckingham Palace's picture gallery as a home for his art collection.

Buckingham Palace's Art Collection to Be Exhibited in Public Gallery for First Time

The 65 works set to go on view include masterpieces by Rembrandt, Vermeer and Titian

Oxburgh Hall, a moated Tudor manor house in Norfolk, England, is currently undergoing a major renovation project to fix its roof.

Thousands of Rare Artifacts Discovered Beneath Tudor Manor's Attic Floorboards

Among the finds are manuscripts possibly used to perform illegal Catholic masses, silk fragments and handwritten music

More than 500 people guillotined during the French Revolution may have been buried in the walls of this 19th-century chapel.

Remains Discovered in Parisian Chapel May Belong to Guillotined Aristocrats

New research suggests the bodies of nearly 500 nobles beheaded during the Reign of Terror are buried in Chapelle Expiatoire

Researchers recently identified the unnamed sitter in this portrait as Mary Boleyn, older sister of Anne Boleyn.

After Hundreds of Years, Unknown Woman in Tudor Portrait Identified as Mary Boleyn

New evidence suggests the painting depicts Anne Boleyn's older sister, the one-time mistress of Henry VIII

The prayer book is written in Latin and French and features 40 miniature illustrations.

A Prayer Book Owned by Mary, Queen of Scots, Is Up for Sale

The ill-fated monarch inscribed the gift from her great-aunt with an affectionate inscription

Elle Fanning portrays the eponymous empress in Hulu's "The Great."

The True Story of Catherine the Great

Hulu's "The Great" offers an irreverent, ahistorical take on the Russian empress' life. This is the real history behind the period comedy

A Labrador retriever, but you probably knew that already, given that this pooch is America's most popular breed

Labrador Tops Most Popular Dog Breed List for 29th Year in a Row

The rankings stay much the same from year to year, but in 2019, Pembroke Welsh corgis broke the top ten for the first time

That Mary consigned some 280 Protestants to the flames is both indisputable and indefensible. But as historians have increasingly argued, this number is just one element of a much larger story that warrants contextualization.

The Myth of 'Bloody Mary'

History remembers the English queen as a murderous monster, but the real story of Mary I is far more nuanced

Built at the turn of the seventh century, the white plaster-coated road begins in Cobá and ends 62 miles west, at Yaxuná's ancient downtown in the center of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.

Did a Seventh-Century Warrior Queen Build the Maya's Longest Road?

Dubbed the "white road" in honor of its limestone paving, the 62-mile path is an engineering marvel on par with Maya pyramids

The tangled history of Scottish independence features such figures as William Wallace, Bonnie Prince Charlie, and Mary, Queen of Scots.

A Not-So-Brief History of Scottish Independence

This primer covers Scottish sovereignty from the Roman era to the Jacobite revolts, the 2014 referendum and Brexit

Featuring Richard III, Elizabeth I, Queen Victoria, George III and more

Ten Things We've Learned About Britain's Monarchs in the Past Ten Years

From Richard III to Mary, Queen of Scots, and George III, these were the royal revelations detailed during the 2010s

A portrait (by Juan Carreño de Miranda) of Charles II, the last of the Spanish Habsburg kings, and his father, Philip IV (painted by Diego Velázquez, of whom the king was a patron). Both men had prominent jaws, which a new study concludes is most likely the result of the family's inbreeding.

The Distinctive ‘Habsburg Jaw’ Was Likely the Result of the Royal Family’s Inbreeding

New research finds correlation between how inbred rulers of a notoriously intermarrying dynasty were and the prominence of their jutting jaw

Elizabeth's penmanship deteriorated over time, with the speed and sloppiness of her writing rising in direct correlation with the crown's increasing demands.

Elizabeth I's 'Idiosyncratic' Handwriting Identifies Her as the Scribe Behind a Long Overlooked Translation

The Tudor queen wrote in an "extremely distinctive, disjointed hand," says scholar John-Mark Philo

Helpers fill sandbags on the tip above the shattered Pantglas Junior School to divert a spring and avert the risk of further landslides at Aberfan, South Wales.

The True Story of the Aberfan Disaster

The 1966 Welsh mining tragedy claimed the lives of 116 children and 28 adults and features heavily in the third season of Netflix's "The Crown"

One of the three Armada portraits of Queen Elizabeth I

Three Portraits of Victorious Elizabeth I to Be Displayed Together for the First Time

The paintings were created in the wake of England’s defeat of the Spanish Armada

The discovery highlights the dynamic nature of a site most frequently associated with the gruesome deaths of England’s rich and powerful

Archaeologists Discover Medieval Woman and Child's Skeletons at the Tower of London

The remains shine a light on the ordinary people who lived and worked in one of England’s most notorious historic sites

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