following the death of Queen Elizabeth I in 1603, King James VI of Scotland claimed her throned along with a new title: King James I of England.
During his bloody reign he faced numerous attempts on his life including the nefarious Gunpowder Plot and the continuing 30 years war on the continent.
The fascinating story of how an insignificant and poverty stricken - but deeply ambitious - underdog amongst Europe's aristocratic houses managed to manoeuvre its children onto thrones across the world from Norway to Portugal, from Britain to Greece, from Sweden to Bulgaria.
King Charles I succeeded his father James I in 1625 from when political and religious upheaval dogged his reign before his authoritarian rule eventually led to civil war and ultimately his execution.
In 1685 King James II succeeded his brother to the throne. As the last of the Stuart Kings he would reign for only 3 years until none other than his own daughter, Mary, brought about his downfall.
Oliver Cromwell's commonwealth came to an end soon after his death and, in 1660, the exiled King returned to London with an enormous fanfare only to face the dual tragedies of the worst outbreak of plague in generations and the Great Fire of London.
Writer Tracy Borman explores the life of Elizabeth I, looking into her relationships with her closest attendants and her attitudes to, and treatment of, other women as well as her erotically charged love affairs and her love of tooth-rotting sugar.
Historian Tracy Borman takes us behind the closed doors of the Tudor court where sex and power and the very architecture of the palaces created a febrile, hothouse atmosphere in which scandals erupted on an almost daily basis.
Historian Tracy Borman reveals intimate details about the tyrannical Henry VIII and his six wives: from how they lived, loved and died to the most minute of details of their everyday lives.
The Victorian era was one of the most remarkable in British history, seeing huge advances in medicine and education alongside the birth of the Empire. It was also a time when harsh working conditions and desperate poverty blighted the lives of the majority of the people in the country. It is inte...
The execution of King Charles in January 1649 was not the final chapter in one of Britain's most tragic stories. If the people of the British Isles imagined a new era of peace and stability, they were to be sorely disappointed.
The Battle of Naseby in June 1645 was followed by almost three years of hard and bitter fighting. After the calamitous Royalist defeat, the determination that had sustained the King's cause thus far had all but disappeared. Only the Royalist cavalry had escaped from Naseby; the remainder of the K...
The weeks after the Battle of Edgehill in October 1642 provided King Charles with perhaps his only chance of winning the Civil War outright. He failed to take it. By November, the Parliamentary army under Essex had managed to slip past the Royalist forces outside London to regain the city, while ...
On a freezing January day in 1649, the executioner’s axe ended the reign and the life of King Charles I. It was the final melancholy episode in one of England’s saddest stories. Sent to his death by a Parliament weary of his duplicity, the King met his end with dignity and courage. Behind him he ...
On a bright summer morning 300 years ago, a battle took place in a field in southern Germany that stopped Louis XIV and his French army from taking over Europe.
300 years ago, a battle took place in these German fields - a battle that few remember today - but in which British troops played a vital role. It was a fight which would determine the fate of Europe.
Filmed at Houlgate Village near York, 'Life in Anglo Saxon Times' provides an introduction to known aspects of life during the Dark Ages. Simply presented, but with authority, this film features authentic, atmospheric reconstructions of everyday life, expert commentary and covers laws and religio...
In 1917 with British casualties mounting on the battlefields of France, and anti-German sentiment on the rise at home, King George V together with his powerful wife was forced to change the Royal Family name to Windsor and a new dynasty was born.
Proud to be king of 'a wonderful people' the fir...
