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Hello, I'm Professor Susanna Lipscomb and welcome welcome to Not Just the Tudors from History Hit,

the podcasts in which we explore everything from Anne Boleyn to the Aztecs,

from Holbein to the Huguenots, from Shakespeare to Samarise,

relieved by regular doses of murder, espionage and witchcraft.

Not in other words, just the Tudors, but most definitely also the Tudors.

Behind the velvet curtains and gilded thrones of the Tudor and Stuart Monarchs were figures who were neither crowned nor elected,

yet could determine policy, command armies, and provoke intense envy, even hatred.

They were known, often uneasily, as favourites.

The king or queen's favourite was not simply a friend, not always a minister,

but someone who enjoyed exceptional personal access to the monarch.

That intimacy could translate into offices, titles, monopolies,

marriages, military commands, or into sudden catastrophe. To be favoured was to stand at the dazzling

centre of power, but also directly beneath a suspended blade.

This month, on Not Just the Tudors,

I thought we'd look more closely at a handful of royal favourites

across the Elizabethan and Stuart Courts,

...