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Henrietta Maria, a forgotten queen?

22 July 2021 By Frances Quinn

Frances Quinn’s novel The Smallest Man is inspired by the life of Jeffrey Hudson, the ‘court dwarf’ of Henrietta Maria, Charles I’s French wife. But who was this spirited woman who was both dearly loved and deeply unpopular? Frances looks at the friendship between a courtier and a queen who has been all but forgotten […]

Henrietta Maria: queen, warrior, politician, woman

10 September 2019 By Leanda de Lisle

Henrietta Maria, wife of Charles I, died 350 years ago in 1669. It’s time to reconsider this strong-willed queen, argues historian Leanda de Lisle.

Review: Charles I: Downfall of a King

8 July 2019 By James Burge

Charles I: Downfall of a King (BBC Four, 9 July, 2019) reviewed by James Burge for Historia magazine

Killing a king: the execution of Charles I

29 January 2019 By Leanda de Lisle

The Execution of Charles I

This year sees the 370th anniversary of the execution of Charles I on 30 January, 1649, an event which was, by law, commemorated annually for almost 200 years. Charles’s biographer, Leanda de Lisle, writes about the day they killed a king. Charles I awoke before dawn in St James’s Palace on the day of his […]

Historia interviews: Leanda de Lisle

20 November 2018 By Editor

Leanda de Lisle and Jason Goodman

White King, Leanda de Lisle’s biography of Charles I, won the 2018 Historical Writers’ Association Non-fiction Crown at an awards ceremony earlier this month. Historia talks to the author of this “quietly revolutionary” book.

The HWA Non-fiction Crown celebrates the best in historical non-fiction writing.

Escaping the Tudors

29 September 2016 By Linda Porter

Linda Porter on why she’s happy to leave the sixteenth century behind. Last year I appeared in two programmes in the Channel Five ‘Last Days’ series, talking about Mary Queen of Scots and Charles I.  Much of my contribution on Mary was eventually edited out because it did not fit the overall ‘well, she was […]

Britain’s Worst Leader?

2 July 2016 By Tom Harper

In the wake of Brexit, Tom Harper looks to history for comparisons. David Cameron probably doesn’t deserve to be impaled on a red-hot poker.  But it wouldn’t be unprecedented. Trying to digest the enormity of the Brexit vote, I’ve been looking to history for comparisons.  To be clear: I think it’s a catastrophe.  Leave aside, […]

Are the Stuarts the New Tudors?

31 May 2016 By Elizabeth Fremantle

It’s quite possible that we have reached peak Tudor. Henry VIII’s stinking, gangrenous leg has been endlessly speculated upon, every layer of Elizabeth I’s petticoats has been lifted and thoroughly searched and Anne Boleyn’s execution has been read, learned and inwardly digested from all possible angles. There are even novels that speculate upon what might […]

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Latest Releases

The Lying Dutchman by Graham Brack

20 May 2022

Dead in the Water by Mark Ellis

19 May 2022

Widows of the Ice by Anne Fletcher

15 May 2022

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Editor’s Picks

From the Mill to Monte Carlo by Anne Fletcher

15 June 2021

William of Orange's army arrives in England

Why the Glorious Revolution was . . . well, neither

4 November 2018

Historia Q&A: Ben Kane

15 May 2018

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Historia Magazine is published by the Historical Writers’ Association. We are authors, publishers and agents of historical writing, both fiction and non-fiction. For information about membership and profiles of our member authors, please visit our website.

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ISSN 2515-2254

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