Tudor expert and BBC personality David Starkey turns his sharp eye to England’s royals in this documentary series that maps the development, from 400 A.D. onward, of Europe's oldest surviving political institution. Beginning with the rise of Alfred the Great's nation-state, Series 1 chronicles the Norman Conquest and Henry II's dominance before delving into the made-for-Shakespeare reigns of three Edwards, Richard II and Henrys IV to VI.