David Starkey's Music and Monarchy

Episode 1

Crown & Choir

60 mins

Dr David Starkey reveals how the story of British music was shaped by its monarchy. In this first episode, he begins with kings who were also composers, Henry V and Henry VIII, and the golden age of English music they presided over. He discovers how the military and religious ambitions of England's monarchy made its music the envy of Europe, and then brought it to the brink of destruction - and why British music still owes a huge debt to Queen Elizabeth I.

Episode 2

Revolutions

Dr David Starkey's exploration of how the monarchy shaped Britain's music reaches the 17th century, when religious conflict threatened not only the lives of musicians and monarchs, but the future of the monarchy and the glorious tradition of British music itself. In the midst of this upheaval, royalty presided over a series of musical breakthroughs.

Episode 3

Great British Music

Dr David Starkey's exploration of how the monarchy shaped Britain's music reaches the 18th century, when Great Britain became a dominant military and economic power, and the century which brought us patriotic classics such as 'God Save the King' and 'Rule Britannia'. Yet this was a time when the monarchy had never been more fragile, having lost much of its political and religious power.

Episode 4

Re-inventions

Dr David Starkey's exploration of how the monarchy shaped British music concludes with the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, a time when the crown rediscovered the power of pageantry and ceremony, and when native music experienced a renaissance.