March 2022 marks the 500th anniversary since Anne Boleyn made her debut at the court of King Henry VIII.
Prof. Suzannah Lipscomb investigates the story of Anne’s remarkable upbringing in England, the Netherlands and France before she arrived at the heart of Tudor England. For all Anne Boleyn’s fame, this is a period of her life where the evidence is hard to find and fact needs to be carefully sifted from fiction.
Suzannah explores Anne’s childhood home, beautiful Hever Castle, to discover what made her - what formed her into the extraordinary woman who would change the course of history.
With special access to a remarkable new exhibition at Hever, Suzannah joins the curatorial team to handle and analyse the original evidence relating to Anne’s upbringing and the shaping of her character, including a significant illuminated book of hours complete with Anne’s personal signature and a newly re-examined original painting, reattributed as being of Catherine of Aragon, Henry’s queen when Anne arrived at court.
What did Charles II do in the English Civil Wars? Why was he known as the merry monarch? When did things start to go wrong for Charles II? What happened during the Great Fire of London? How did Charles II die? Stuarts and Restoration London historian Rebecca Rideal answers some of the key questio...
On the 26 February 2021, around 38 metres of wall collapsed at Hurst Castle, one of a series of vital coastal forts built by Henry VIII in the 16th century to protect England from threat of invasion by the European powers. Recently, Dan went out on his kayak to assess the damage at the castle whi...
For more than 900 years, the Tower of London has occupied its place at the heart of English life. At various times a royal citadel, palace, menagerie, observatory, public records office, mint, arsenal and, even to this day, the home of the crown jewels of England, since 1100 it has famously serve...
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