[00:05.00]1953, a coronation fit for a King
[00:10.00]But it's a young Queen
[00:11.00]who's about to be crowned.
[00:13.00]And the crowd roars its approval
[00:17.00] The fact that she's a woman attracts no comment
[00:20.00] and she will go on to reign over us for six decades
[00:25.00]But England's Queens haven't always been greeted with such adoration.
[00:31.00]The first woman who sought to be crowned Queen in her own right
[00:35.00] here in Westminster,
[00:36.00]800 years earlier,
[00:38.00]received a very different response
[00:41.00] She wasn't met by cheering crowds
[00:44.00] Instead, she was chased away from the capital by an angry mob
[00:51.00]That's because throughout our history
[00:54.00] women and power have made an uneasy combination.
[00:58.00]Never more so than the Middle Ages
[01:00.00]when a King was a warrior who had to fight to win power
[01:05.00]battle to keep it.
[01:09.00]But despite everything that stood in their way,
[01:12.00] a handful of extraordinary women did attempt to rule Medieval England
[01:18.00]This series is about the Queens
[01:21.00]who challenged male power
[01:23.00] and the fierce reactions they provoked.
[01:28.00] When they pursued power like Kings,
[01:30.00]these royal women were criticised and condemned
[01:33.00]Most graphically of all,
[01:34.00]they've been vilified as She-Wolves
[01:37.00]These are the stories of the She-Wolves of England.
[01:41.00] And to explore them is to realise just how far we've come,
[01:45.00] and how little has changed.