Backdrop fallback

Fit to Rule: How Royal Illness Changed History

Fit to Rule: How Royal Illness Changed History

Share

Fit to Rule: How Royal Illness Changed History

2013- 2013

1 Seasons

3 Episodes

5.0(1 votes)

Ended

Documentary

Overview

Lucy Worsley, chief curator at Historic Royal Palaces, explores how the physical and mental health of our past monarchs has shaped the history of the nation.

Links & Resources

Website IMDbView

Social & External

Production Companies

Silver River Productions

BBC

Episodes

No episodes found for this season.

The people behind it

Cast & crew

1 featured cast member

Starring

Lucy Worsley

Lucy Worsley

Self - Presenter

Similar TV Shows

King Alfred and the Anglo Saxons

King Alfred and the Anglo Saxons

Michael Wood argues that the most important and influential British kings were a father, son and grandson who lived over a thousand years ago during the age of the Vikings.

Spying on the Royals

Spying on the Royals

This 2-part documentary series reveals the truth about King Edward VIII's affair with American divorcée Wallis Simpson, and the espionage operation that accompanied the investigation.

A History of Celtic Britain

A History of Celtic Britain

In four chapters, largely based on and illustrated with archaeological finds and sites, Neil Oliver explains how, as far as is known, the Iron Age Celtic tribes known as the Ancient Britains evolved and entered European civilization. Their internecine tribal phase was warlike and partitioned. Overseas contacts, especially metal trade, brought wealth and progress. Ultimately, it attracted the superior Roman empire, which would conquer and pacify Britain into a province, like Gaul shortly before, but Caesar's invasion wasn't the definitive annexation yet, that was left to emperor Claudius; even afterward some Celtic traits and even rebellions remained.

Andrew Marr's The Making of Modern Britain

Andrew Marr's The Making of Modern Britain

Andrew Marr's The Making of Modern Britain is a 2009 BBC documentary television series presented by Andrew Marr that covers the period of British history from the death of Queen Victoria to the end of the Second World War. It was a follow-up to his 2007 series Andrew Marr's History of Modern Britain.

Time Team

Time Team

Time Team is a British television series which has been aired on British Channel 4 from 1994. Created by television producer Tim Taylor and presented by actor Tony Robinson, each episode featured a team of specialists carrying out an archaeological dig over a period of three days, with Robinson explaining the process in layman's terms. This team of specialists changed throughout the series' run, although has consistently included professional archaeologists such as Mick Aston, Carenza Lewis, Francis Pryor and Phil Harding. The sites excavated over the show's run have ranged in date from the Palaeolithic right through to the Second World War.

Abroad Again in Britain

Abroad Again in Britain

Jonathan Meades gives a personal perspective of British history.

What's the Monarchy For?

What's the Monarchy For?

David Dimbleby examines the power, wealth and survival of the institution at the heart of our national life: the monarchy.

Seven Ages of Britain

Seven Ages of Britain

Seven Ages of Britain is a BBC television documentary series which is written and presented by David Dimbleby. The seven part series was first aired on Sunday nights at 9:00pm on BBC One starting on 31 January 2010. The series covers the history of Britain's greatest art and artefacts over the past 2000 years. Each episode covers a different period in British history. In Australia, all seven episodes aired on ABC1 each Tuesday at 8:30pm from 7 September 2010.

The Stuarts

The Stuarts

Presented by Dr Clare Jackson of Cambridge University, this new three-part series argues that the Stuarts, more than any other, were Britain's defining royal family.

The Stuarts in Exile

The Stuarts in Exile

Dr Clare Jackson tells the story of The Stuarts in Exile and sheds new light on the political, military and cultural threat the Jacobite's posed to the embryonic British state. Although the '15' ultimately failed, it crystallised the stark choice facing those living in early 18th-century Britain. Are you for the Stuarts or are you for Hanoverian's?

Illuminations: The Private Lives of Medieval Kings

Illuminations: The Private Lives of Medieval Kings

Through this three part series Art Historian Dr Janina Ramirez tells the story of the Medieval monarchy as preserved through stunning illuminated manuscripts from the British Library's Royal Manuscripts collection.

Britain's Bloodiest Dynasty

Britain's Bloodiest Dynasty

Acclaimed historian Dan Jones tells the story of the dynasty who ruled England and much of France during the Middle Ages. More shocking, brutal and exhilarating than Game of Thrones, these events actually happened.

Inside Hampton Court Palace

Inside Hampton Court Palace

On the edge of London stands Hampton Court, one of Britain's biggest palaces and most popular tourist spots, attracting almost a million visitors every year. Spanning 750 acres of grounds, it boasts 1,300 rooms and 23 courtyards...along with a host of secrets and historic stories. This two-part special provides an exclusive and intimate look at life inside the court today for the people keeping Henry VIII's world alive in the modern age, and also explores what life was like in the palace where the private world of the Tudors began.

The Boleyns: A Scandalous Family

The Boleyns: A Scandalous Family

Part documentary, part historical drama, this series follows the fortunes of the different members of the Boleyn family, ultimately made notorious for daughter Anne’s marriage to Henry VIII and execution.

Michael Wood's Story Of England

Michael Wood's Story Of England

Groundbreaking series in which Michael Wood tells the story of one place throughout the whole of English history. The village is Kibworth in Leicestershire in the heart of England - a place that lived through the Black Death, the Civil War and the Industrial Revolution and was even bombed in World War Two.

How the Victorians Built Britain

How the Victorians Built Britain

This series travels the length and breadth of Britain to find out how the Victorians built Britain. It uncovers the incredible and surprising stories behind iconic landmarks; discovers the hidden heroes behind the epic constructions; and finds out how the incredible advances made by the Victorians forged the world we live in today.

The Normans

The Normans

The Normans is a British television documentary series first aired on BBC Two in 2010. Over three episodes, it sees Professor Robert Bartlett's journey from Great Britain via Jerusalem to the Kingdom of Sicily to examine the expansion and ambition of the Normans between the 10th and 13th centuries.

Saving Country Houses with Penelope Keith

Saving Country Houses with Penelope Keith

From cafes to craft fairs, glamping to ghosts, join Dame Penelope Keith as she meets the owners of Britain’s historic country houses struggling to keep their homes intact. Featured properties include Ashby Manor in Northamptonshire, Chillingham Castle in Northumberland, and Mapperton House in Dorset. As these estates turn to innovative ventures to stay afloat, Keith offers insight into the challenges of maintaining these grand homes in 2025. Will their creative solutions be enough to save their history?

Digging for Britain

Digging for Britain

Dr Alice Roberts follows a year of British archaeology, joining up the results of digs and investigations the length of the country.

The Great Smog: Winter of '52

The Great Smog: Winter of '52

Dr Xand Van Tulleken and Raksha Dave investigate the Great Smog of 1952 - the deadliest environmental disaster ever recorded and one of the world's worst peacetime catastrophes. Lasting just over four days, the Great Smog plunged London into a terrifyingly murky gloom - the acrid pollution seeping into homes, leaving Londoners gasping for breath, shutting down transport and emergency services, and overwhelming hospitals and undertakers alike.

Recommended TV Shows

American Experience

American Experience

TV's most-watched history series brings to life the compelling stories from our past that inform our understanding of the world today.

Top Gear

Top Gear

Motoring programme featuring reviews of and reports about cars of all types.

History 101

History 101

Infographics and archival footage deliver bite-size history lessons on scientific breakthroughs, social movements and world-changing discoveries.

Kylie

Kylie

A look at the life of Australian pop star Kylie Minogue, who opens her personal archives and reflects on a career in which she has sold 80 million records and reinvented herself, and by extension pop, several times. Home movies, personal photographs and new interviews reveal the picture, as Kylie addresses how she’s faced public scrutiny, personal loss and illness.

The Circus

The Circus

Come one, come all to The Circus. This real-time documentary series pulls back the curtain on the current political stories, revealing the intense, inspiring and infuriating stories behind the headlines. Key characters and events are presented in real time, as they are happening.

Mysteries at the Museum

Mysteries at the Museum

Don Wildman unearths relics from the world's greatest institutions to reveal secrets from the past. He examines each artifact to illuminate history's most incredible triumphs, sensational crimes and bizarre encounters.

Nature

Nature

Consistently stunning documentaries transport viewers to far-flung locations ranging from the torrid African plains to the chilly splendours of icy Antarctica. The show's primary focus is on animals and ecosystems around the world. A comic book based on the show, meant to be used an as educational tool for kids, was briefly distributed to museums and schools at no cost in the mid-2000s.

The Reluctant Traveller with Eugene Levy

The Reluctant Traveller with Eugene Levy

Award-winning actor and nervous explorer Eugene Levy steps out of his comfort zone for a whirlwind tour of the world's most beautiful and intriguing destinations.

Natural World

Natural World

Natural World is a nature documentary television series broadcast annually on BBC Two and regarded by the BBC as its flagship natural history brand. It is currently the longest-running series in its genre on British television, with more than 400 episodes broadcast since its inception in 1983. Natural World is produced by the BBC Natural History Unit in Bristol, but individual programmes can be in-house productions, collaborative productions with other broadcasters or films made and distributed by independent production companies and purchased by the BBC. Natural World programmes are often broadcast as PBS Nature episodes in the USA. Since 2008, most Natural World programmes have been shot and broadcast in high definition.

Visible: Out on Television

Visible: Out on Television

Explore the history of the American LGBTQ movement through the lens of TV in this five-part docuseries. Combining archival footage with new interviews, the series looks at homophobia, the evolution of LGBTQ characters, and coming out in the TV world.

American Masters

American Masters

American Masters is a PBS television series which produces biographies on enduring writers, musicians, visual and performing artists, dramatists, filmmakers, and others who have left an indelible impression on the cultural landscape of the United States.

History's Greatest Mysteries

History's Greatest Mysteries

Investigates a wide range of historically compelling topics and the mysteries surrounding each including the Titanic, D.B. Cooper, Roswell, John Wilkes Booth, and more. Fresh, new evidence and perspectives will be showcased, such as never-before-released documents, personal diaries and DNA evidence.

Welcome to Earth

Welcome to Earth

Will Smith whose curiosity and wonder is positively infectious—is guided by National Geographic Explorers traveling to different corners of the world to get up close and personal with the weirdest, most unusual, dangerous and thrilling spectacles of the planet.

Deadly Women

Deadly Women

This compelling series investigates the motives and m.o. of female murderers. While males are often driven by anger, impulse and destruction, women usually have more complex, long-term reasons to kill.

Earth at Night in Colour

Earth at Night in Colour

Filmed across six continents, this docuseries uses cutting-edge camera technology to capture animals' nocturnal lives, revealing new behaviours filmed in full color like never before.

Secrets of the Dead

Secrets of the Dead

Part detective story, part true-life drama, long-running series explores some of the most iconic moments in history to debunk myths and shed new light on past events. Using the latest investigative techniques, forensic science and historical examination, it shatters accepted wisdom, challenges prevailing ideas, overturns existing hypotheses, spotlights forgotten mysteries, and ultimately rewrites history.

Eli Roth's History of Horror

Eli Roth's History of Horror

An in-depth look at the history and pop cultural significance of horror films.

Biography

Biography

Biography is a documentary television series. It was originally a half-hour filmed series produced for CBS by David Wolper from 1961 to 1964 and hosted by Mike Wallace. The A&E Network later re-ran it and has produced new episodes since 1987. The older version featured historical figures such as Helen Keller and Mark Twain, or long-dead entertainment figures such as Will Rogers or John Barrymore. The A&E series has placed the emphasis on such people as Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Plácido Domingo, Freddie Mercury, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Eric Clapton, Pope John Paul II, Gene Tierney, Selena, Diego Rivera, Mao Zedong and Queen Elizabeth II, and fictional characters like The Phantom, Superman, Hamlet, Betty Boop, and Santa Claus. The program ended up profiling enough figures that in 1999, A&E spun it off into an entire network, The Biography Channel.

Doctor Who Confidential

Doctor Who Confidential

Doctor Who Confidential is a documentary to complement the revival of the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Each episode was broadcast on BBC Three on Saturdays, immediately after the broadcast of the weekly television episode on BBC One. The running time of the first two series was 30 minutes, being extended to 45 minutes in the third. BBC Three also broadcast a cut-down edition of the programme, lasting 15 minutes, shown after the repeats on Sundays and Fridays and after the weekday evening repeats of earlier seasons.

Down to Earth with Zac Efron

Down to Earth with Zac Efron

Actor Zac Efron journeys around the world with wellness expert Darin Olien in a travel show that explores healthy, sustainable ways to live.