From the first Tudor king to the Virgin Queen, a primer on who the Tudors were and why they remain so popular to this day

This history begins when the dynasty was secured by the plotting of Margaret, the mother of Henry VII, who returned from exile to take the English throne. In time, a 17-year-old prince was crowned Henry VIII, ushering in a golden era that would gradually darken as the king broke away from Rome to establish the Church of England and dissolve the monasteries. His death brought fresh intrigue that eventually saw his daughter Mary become queen, and her attempts to restore Catholicism saw hundreds of "heretics" burned at the stake. On her death, her sister Elizabeth came to the throne, and retained it. She snuffed out plots and defeated rebellions, and her navy thwarted the Armada sent by the King of Spain. She was a woman who won the admiration of many, not least for her skillful ability to remain independent while exploiting the possibility of marriage. Her reign was also an age of exploration, which saw Walter Raleigh venture to the New World and Francis Drake circumnavigate the world.