Jane Ridley

The 80-year-old queen is caricatured in the French satirical magazine Le Rire, greeting her nephew the Kaiser (December 1899)

Forty years of comfort-eating

27 May 2017 9:00 am

In 2015 a pair of linen drawers belonging to Queen Victoria sold at auction for over £12,000. In old age…

The 19th-century craze for mesmerism led to séances that were more freak shows than scientific demonstrations

Suspension of disbelief

6 May 2017 9:00 am

The history of modern medicine is a roll call of brilliant minds making breakthrough discoveries. We rarely hear about the…

Portrait of Talleyrand by Ary Scheffer

Charming old fox

25 March 2017 9:00 am

Talleyrand was 76 when he took up the post of French ambassador in London in 1830. Linda Kelly deals only…

Bad behaviour

11 February 2017 9:00 am

Molly Keane achieved fame and critical acclaim in 1981 aged 75, when she published the novel Good Behaviour, a razor-sharp…

Bad behaviour

9 February 2017 3:00 pm

Molly Keane achieved fame and critical acclaim in 1981 aged 75, when she published the novel Good Behaviour, a razor-sharp…

Blithe spirit

5 November 2016 9:00 am

Lady Anne Barnard is a name that means almost nothing today, but her story is a remarkable one. She defied…

In the company of queens

22 October 2016 9:00 am

Steven Runciman, the historian of Byzantium, is a puzzling figure. He was an outrageous snob, once remarking that he would…