This week, I am thrilled to welcome Dr Elizabeth Norton back to the podcast for the third time as we dive into the stories behind her upcoming book, Women who Ruled the World, 5000 Years of Female Monarchy. In this book, as you can probably guess, Dr Norton looks at female rule over the past five millennia, from Cleopatra of Egypt to Empress Wu of China, Catherine the Great to Elizabeth II, this book has it all - political pawns, fighters, murderers, victims, but all of them have something in common, they dared to rule, often in a world where the very notion was deemed impossible .