Adventurer Bear Grylls discovers the stories behind the top secret documents hidden in his grandfather’s wartime trunk and is delighted by a Scottish royal connection.

For the first time, the inner secrets of the gunpowder plotters are dramatised using the actual words of their most senior captured leader Thomas Wintour,

In 1603 James VI of Scotland becomes the first of seven Stuarts to rule the three separate Kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland. The border

Feb 21, 2022 Dr Clare Jackson talks to broadcaster Andrew Marr about her latest book: ‘Devil-Land: England under siege 1588-1688’ – a ground-breaking portrait of

A look at religion in politics and England’s 1670 treaty with France.

To sell his idea of a new single united kingdom to his subjects James VI and I produced new versions of coins, Bible and flag

In 1625 England, Scotland and Ireland are all defined and separated by religious difference. Charles I pursues a strategy to make Presbyterian Scotland more like

A look at religion in politics and England’s 1670 treaty with France.

The threat to Protestant England from Catholic Europe allowed James VI of Scotland to believe that he could one day rule in England. His belief

Oliver Cromwell went to war with Ireland’s Catholic rebels and his notorious campaign involved two massacres of the civilian populations of Drogheda and of Wexford

When James arrived in London in early 1604, it was as James VI of Scotland and James I of England. But James didn’t want to

At his death in 1625 James VI and I’s reign is celebrated for its political and unifying success. In contrast his son, Charles I, appears

Charles I returns to Scotland for his coronation in 1633. His subjects dislike his authoritarian attitude. His formal attempts to rule them through the Scottish

The Scottish Kirk and their congregations reject the 1637 Book of Common Prayer that Charles I has instructed them to adopt. In the following year

The Battle of Edgehill in 1642 traditionally marks the start of the English Civil War. Yet England was the last of the three Kingdoms to

After being held as prisoner at Carisbrooke Castle Charles I is put on trial in 1649. He refuses to acknowledge his accusers right to judge

News of his father’s execution reaches Charles II in Holland. A law passed on the day of the execution prevents anyone succeeding to the English

In March 1649, the English Parliament commissioned Oliver Cromwell to lead an army of invasion into Ireland. The massacres at both Drogheda and Wexford have

After signing the National Covenant Charles II was allowed to land in Scotland. The Scottish army was defeated by Cromwell and Charles II escaped to

In 1689 James VII and II’s with the backing of France lands in Ireland to start his campaign to wrestle back his thrones from William