7 podcasts about British kings and queens to listen to right now

In 2018, HistoryExtra reached a landmark moment on its podcast when we broadcast our 500th episode. To mark the occasion, we released five special episodes – including this one about Elizabeth I, in which historian Helen Castor explores the psychology of the Virgin Queen and the challenges when writing a new biography of one of England’s best-known historical figures.

Kensington Palace was once home to the young Victoria – and in 2018, BBC History Revealed editor Charlotte Hodgman headed to the palace to discuss the queen’s life with historian and broadcaster Lucy Worsley.

• 8 rules of the ‘Kensington System’ that governed Queen Victoria’s childhood

Divorced, beheaded… died. In this podcast from 2018, bestselling author and historian Alison Weir discusses the life and tragic death of the Henry VIII’s third wife, who bore the king his long-awaited male heir. Weir also reveals the challenges of recreating Seymour for her historical novel Jane Seymour: The Haunted Queen, in which the historian explores the controversial possibility that Jane may have been pregnant at the time of her marriage – but had a miscarriage.

Henry VI (1421–71) was not a successful king. Having inherited the throne as an infant, his incompetency for government was a contributing factor to the Wars of the Roses and ultimately his murder on 21 May 1471. Here, author Lauren Johnson – the historian behind the discovery that Henry VI may have had a sex coach – discusses his life and reign.

In this podcast from 2019, Kate Williams tells the dramatic story of the 16th-century Scottish queen and reflects on her doomed relationship with her cousin Elizabeth I of England. As part of the conversation, Williams also discusses the historical accuracy of Mary Queen of Scots (2018), starring actresses Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie as Mary, Queen of Scots and her cousin Elizabeth respectively.

• Queens at war: Elizabeth I vs Mary, Queen of Scots
• Elizabeth I: was she really a ‘Virgin Queen’?

Bringing this list into the 20th century, Alexandra Churchill considers the life and reign of the Queen’s grandfather George V, exploring his role during the First World War and the question of whether he could have done more to save his cousin Tsar Nicholas II.