Willy Willy Harry Stee, Harry......yes, Charlie Higson reaches Monarch number 5 in the shape of Henry II, a man who fought and married his way to the top only for his wife and sons to rebel against him and start a revolt.

What would you do?

Well in this episode you'll find out exactly what Henry II did and how he did it.

Helen Castor, author of 'She-Wolves: The Women Who Ruled England Before Elizabeth' is Charlie's guest 'proper' historian.

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The saga continues as Charlie Higson brings you the story of Stephen & Matilda.

When Henry I died, the crown should have fallen to his daughter, the Empress Matilda.

BUT

Stephen of Blois got there first to claim the crown and together with his wife, a different Matilda, Matilda of Boulogne.....it all went horribly wrong as you'll hear.

Charlie's proper historian guest is Cath Hanley author of Matilda: Empress, Queen, Warrior.

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Imagine you have two brothers. One of them is King of England, the other two want to be. What would YOU do?

Well how about this. You have the brother who is King killed in a convenient hunting accident, then lock the other one up for the rest of his life.

Farfetched? Then listen on as Charlie Higson continues his personal history of the extraordinary story of the Monarchs of England, assisted by this week's proper historian, Lord Charles Spencer.

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In this episode, Charlie Higson continues his voyage through the rhyme of 'Willy Willy Harry Stee', stopping at the second Willy, King William the 2nd otherwise known as William Rufus.

This week's proper expert is James Hawes, author of the smash hit 'The Shortest History of England’, who’s been in the bestseller charts as both a crime novelist and a popular historian.

In this episode, find out how the Norman invasion directly led to Brexit!

It really is a real life version of Succession!

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And so, after 2 episodes, 4500 years and a great deal of frankly unpronounceable Anglo Saxon Kings, Charlie finally gets to his first Willy. William the Conqueror, otherwise known as William the Bastard.

The question is WHY was he known as this?

The answer is.....well, Charlie will explain along with this weeks proper historian, Judith Green.

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Charlie continues his pre-history of the Monarchy with a quick blast through the 400 years prior to William The Conqueror.

Yes, it's those crazy Anglo-Saxons and in this episode we get to know them a little better thanks to Charlie's proper historian guest and all-round Anglo-Saxon expert, Marc Morris.

And yes, he will be asking the question we all ask at one point in our lives....Was Alfred so Great?

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Willy Willy Harry Stee is Charlie Higson's guide to the monarchy, all based on a rhyme he learned at school which, helpfully, gave an easy way to remember the names of every King & Queen of England. Unhelpfully it didn't teach you anything else about them, something this weekly podcast will help rectify.

In this first episode, Charlie, who you may know as creator of and actor in The Fast Show and Down The Line, author of the Young Bond and Enemy series and recently the brand new James Bond novel 'On His Majesty's Secret Service' brings us part one of the backstory to the very first monarch, William The 1st or William The Conqueror as he's better known.

To help make sense of this Charlie invited his friend Tom Holland who you may know from the top rated podcast The Rest Is History.

So, settle down and enjoy 4000 years of history in one convenient podcast! Brilliant!

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This has been in Charlie Higson's head since the 1960's.....Willie, Willie, Harry, Stee, Harry, Dick, John, Harry Three, One, Two, Three Ned's, Richard Two, Henry Four, Five, Six, then who? Edward Four, Five, Dick the Bad, Harrys twain and Ned, the lad. Mary, Bessie, James the Vain, Charlie, Charlie, James again. William and Mary, Anne o'Gloria, Four Georges, William and Victoria. Edward, George and Edward Eighth, quickly goes and Abdicates. Then comes Georgy Six and Lizzie Two and Charlie next to see us through!

This is the story of every Monarch as told by Charlie Higson and some of his very clever historian friends.

Launches May 5th. Just before Charles the Third is crowned. Total co-incidence. Honest!

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