For so long believed to be bit-players in histories dominated by men, some queens wielded extraordinary power, and ruled in ways that far surpassed their male counterparts.
In this series we discover what drove these women, how they asserted their authority, and reveal the times when, sometimes, being a woman had its advantages.

Combining archive, location shooting, talking heads and stylised recreations, we trace the rise to power of each queen and investigate their reign. With analysis from historians, academics and psychologists, we will pick apart the challenges they faced and discover each monarch's unique approach to power while understanding wider themes such as women's changing position in society and what it meant to be the ‘fairer sex'.