Louise-Renée de Kérouaille, an ancestress of Princess Diana, was born in September 1649 into a noble but relatively poor Breton family, she the daughter of Guillaume de Penancoët, Seigneur de ...

The remarkable life of Nell Gwynne, most famous of the many mistresses of 'the Merry Monarch', Charles II, a classic rags to riches story, began on 2 February 1650. Nell was was the daughter of Thomas ...

Isabella of Valois the second wife of Richard II was born in Paris on 9 November 1389 and was the daughter of King Charles VI of France and his wife Isabeau of Bavaria. Isabella was born at a time of ...

Margaret of Denmark was born on 23 June 1456, the daughter of Christian I, King of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, and Dorothea of Brandenburg, herself the daughter of John, Margrave of ...

The young prince was placed in the care of John Erskine, Earl of Mar, as his father was concerned that his wife Anne of Denmark's leanings toward Catholicism might affect her son, which understandably ...

Edgar of Wessex was born circa 942, the second son of Edmund the Elder Saint Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury. He was sixteen when he ascended the throne on the death of his elder brother, Edwy in October 959.

The House of Plantagenet had its origins in a cadet branch of the original counts of Anjou, the dynasty established by Fulk I of Anjou at the beginning of the tenth century. The Plantagenet dynasty ...

England's first Yorkist King, Edward IV, was the eldest surviving son of Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York and Cecily Neville and was born on 22nd April, 1442 at Rouen, whilst the Duke was stationed ...

When John, the last child of the great Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine was born on Christmas Eve, 1167 at Beaumont Palace in Oxfordshire, his father jokingly nick-named him Sans Terre or Lackland, ...

One of the most popular Norse heroes among the Vikings and a larger than life character, Ragnar Lodbrok was a legendary Viking commander who became a scourge of England and France. He received the ...

No other ruler in England's long and varied history has been honoured with the title the Great. Alfred once declared his intention "To live worthily as long as I live and after my life to leave to ...

John Wilkes, "that Devil Wilkes" as he was referred to by an indignant George III, was sent to the Tower in April 1763. Popular amongst the people, he had spearheaded headed opposition to the ...