Marie Antoinette At The ConciergerieMarie Antoinette at the Conciergerie. Private Collection. (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

An 1883 painting of Queen Victoria (1819 - 1901), taken from an 1882 photograph by Alexander Bassano. Behind the queen is a portrait of her deceased consort, Prince Albert, by German artist Franz Xaver Winterhalter, and the box beside her is labelled 'First Lord of the Treasury'.

The Duke of Windsor with Wallis Simpson at the Chateau de Conde, France, on their wedding day. (Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Charles of Orleans, with his third wife Marie of Cleves

Marion Crawford: The Governess Who Spilled the Queen's Secrets

Reclining Dress Impression with Drapery, a sculpture by Karen LaMonte.

Mary Tudor (1516 - 1558), the daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, at the age of 28. Following the death of her half-brother Edward VI and the brief rule of Lady Jane Grey, she ascended to the English throne as Queen Mary I in 1553.

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HISTORY

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Each year on February 14, people exchange cards, candy or flowers with their special “valentine.” St. Valentine’s Day is named for a Christian martyr and dates back to the 5th century, but has origins in the Roman holiday Lupercalia.

Valentine’s Day

The Middle Ages, the medieval period of European history between the fall of the Roman Empire and the beginning of the Renaissance, are sometimes referred to as the "Dark Ages."

Middle Ages

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Explore the wars, battles, leaders, civilizations, regimes, prominent figures and major events from the continent that encompasses 2 percent of the Earth’s surface. From Stonehenge to the Great Awakening to the French Revolution to the rise and fall of Communism in Russia, see how Europe’s often tumultuous history unfolded.

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Queen Victoria

Marie-Antoinette

Mary I

Henry VIII

Stories

Naked Cooks, Excrement, Rats: The Secretly Disgusting History of Royal Palaces

History’s Oldest-Known Valentine Was Written in Prison

The Governess Who Spilled the Queen’s Secrets

The Delusion That Made Nobles Think Their Bodies Were Made of Glass

This Day in History

Anne Boleyn, second wife of King Henry VIII, is executed

Britain’s Prince William weds Kate Middleton

Duke of Windsor weds American socialite

Separation of Charles and Diana announced

The death of Guy Fawkes

Mary Queen of Scots defeated