Royalty 101: The Rules of Succession

“How many valiant men, how many fair ladies, how many sprightly youths, … breakfasted in the morning with their kinsfolk, comrades and friends, and that same night supped with their ancestors in the other world.” Giovanni Boccaccio, The Decameron Between 1346 and 1353 a horrifyin ...  Show more

Lovers of folklore and Chocolate will have heard of the famous Lady Godiva, who rode her horse naked through the streets of Coventry with only her golden hair to preserve her modesty. And of peeping Tom, the only man in the town who dared to gaze upon her birthday suit and was st ...  Show more

Edward VI is dead - but who will succeed him on the throne?  In the first of two episodes, Tom and Dominic discuss the succession question that surrounded the reign of Edward VI, the sole male heir of Henry VIII - and how a 15-year-old Lady Jane Grey ended up Queen of England an ...  Show more

Just in case you haven’t heard, a certain prince has released a memoir recently detailing a challenging relationship between him and his brother, the heir to the throne.But royal sibling rifts are nothing new, in fact we can trace it back centuries… and we’re doing just that on B ...  Show more

Why did kings and queens have spectators on their wedding night? Was sex always just for the love of their country and the want of an heir, or were some royals into different kinks?And what about outside marriage? From an official mistress who does not have sex with the king, to ...  Show more

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the intense political activity at the turn of the 18th Century, when many politicians in London went to great lengths to find a Protestant successor to the throne of Great Britain and Ireland and others went to equal lengths to oppose them. Queen A ...  Show more