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The historian examines the reign of King Henry VIII, who inherited the throne at the age of 17 and became overwhelmed by a desire for fame. In his search for love and the need for an heir, he divorced his wife Catherine of Aragon to marry his mistress Anne Boleyn - severing England's allegiance to the Pope in Rome and giving him powers no English king had ever exercised before

When, in 1789, the Bastille prison in Paris was stormed and the French Revolution began, few in Britain - least of all King George III, who was recovering from one of his bouts of madness - thought that it would lead to a cataclysmic war with France.

In this stirring program, Dr David Starkey profiles a mediaeval superstar, King Henry II of England, whose dominion stretched from the moors of Scotland to the foothills of the Pyrenees, including more than half of modern France. And he tells some of the most dramatic and significant stories of English history: the bitter tale of King Henry's conflict with Archbishop Thomas Becket, which ended in Becket's murder; the struggle for the nation's liberties in Magna Carta; and the beginnings of the modern parliamentary system.

Looks at the selection and crowning of George I as British monarch in 1714, and the events of his reign and also those of George II and George III. Considers how the breakdown in the relationship between the prime minister William Pitt and George III led to the American War of Independence and the loss of the US colonies.

Looks at the end of the reign of William and Mary, and the changing relationship between Crown and Parliament, and that of Anne and the union with Scotland in 1707 which saw the emergence of Great Britain and how it grew in power.

In episode one, Dr Starkey begins his history of the British monarchy in the violence and chaos of the dark ages. There, from a legendary world occupied by dragons and monsters, a uniquely English idea of monarchy, which was able to stand firm in the face of the Viking invasions, emerged. In this first of the six episode series, Starkey tells the dramatic story of the creation of England and the triumph of an English hero, Alfred the Great.

In this episode Dr. Starkey explores a century which saw three Edwards reign: father, son and grandson. Edward I took the image and might of the English monarchy to new heights. He was the new Caesar; a man who would unite England, Wales and Scotland into one kingdom. All his achievements almost came to nothing during his son's disastrous reign which ended in abdication and murder. It would take the third Edward to rebuild the prestige of the English monarch. With his victory against the French at Crecy, Edward III made England great again, but also plunged her into a war with France, which would last one hundred years.

From the devastation of the initial Norman conquest, through the intrigues and murder of King William II, to the civil war in the reign of King Stephen, 'when God and his angels slept', Dr Starkey illuminates the experience of a turbulent time which changed the course of English history.

In episode two of Monarchy Dr. Starkey chronicles the stormy path of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of England, the world's first nation state. He tells how, assailed by blitzkrieg from the Danes of King Canute, it survived to take its captor captive; and how, driven by civil strife, it nonetheless restored itself to power until through a historic misfortune, it fell in the end to the knights of William the Conqueror.

Looks at the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, and the reign of Charles II.