This panel painting was created after Richard's death but while his reign was still in living memory.

The panel portrait of Richard III is first recorded in the Royal Collection

His baptism at Holy Trinity Church in Stratford is recorded on 26 April; since it is likely that he was born a few days earlier, 'Shakespeare's birthday' becomes traditionally associated with 23 April, St George's Day.

Elizabeth is succeeded by James VI of Scotland, who also becomes James I of England.

An accident during a performance of Shakespeare and John Fletcher's Henry VIII leads to the destruction of the first Globe.

Shakespeare's former colleagues collect thirty-six of his plays for publication in a single large book. About half of them have never been printed before.

Following a series of disputes with his ministers, Charles begins his 'personal rule' and declines to call a Parliament for over a decade.

After a disastrous attempt to arrest five members of Parliament for colluding against him, Charles I flees London and supporters of both Royalist and Parliamentary factions begin to arm themselves. Charles raises the royal standard at Nottingham in August. The first battle of the Civil War takes place at Edgehill in October. In London, public theatres are closed.

Charles I is convicted of treason against England by fifty-nine commissioners and beheaded on 30 January. Though his son is immediately proclaimed king by royalist supporters, he is defeated and forced into exile. England becomes a Commonwealth under the leadership of 'Lord Protector' Oliver Cromwell.

Many of Charles's possessions, including his valuable art collection and his books, are dispersed into private collections.

A third edition of Shakespeare's collected works adds a further seven plays. Most of these are no longer considered to be Shakespeare's work.

The birth of James II's first son, James Francis Edward Stuart, raises alarm among English Protestants about a future Catholic succession. A group of nobles invites William of Orange (the husband of James's Protestant daughter, Mary) to invade. James is deposed and spends the rest of his life in exile. Parliament passes restrictions on royal power, including an edict against future Catholic succession.

After first William and Mary then Queen Anne die childless, the Hanoverian descendants of James I are invited to take up the English throne.

George II inherits the throne after his father's death. Colley Cibber revives Henry VIII to coincide with his coronation.

Shakespeare's history plays are co-opted for a flattering depiction of modern royalty and aristocracy.

A map of the area surrounding Windsor Castle includes a marker for 'Sir John Falstaff's tree' - a location mentioned in The Merry Wives of Windsor.

The future George III studies history through a Shakespearean lens. Around the same time, he is taught elocution by the famous Shakespearean actor, James Quin, who is renowned for performances as Falstaff.

The owner of Shakespeare's house, the Reverend Francis Gastrell, fells the mulberry tree in his garden. Since the tree was allegedly planted by Shakespeare, it had become a site of pilgrimage for fans of the dramatist. After it was felled, the mulberry tree became a source of relics.

After the deaths of his father, Frederick, Prince of Wales, and his grandfather, George II, George III inherits the throne. The same year, he marries Queen Charlotte, a princess from the German province of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

George III commissions a classical scene from Timon of Athens from the artist Nathaniel Dance-Holland.

George, Prince of Wales, attends a performance of Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale on 3 December, starring Mary Robinson as the lost princess, Perdita. The encounter marks the beginning of a whirlwind affair.

George's friendship with the Whig politician Charles James Fox becomes a subject for Shakespeare-inspired satire.

George Prince of Wales secretly marries a Catholic widow. The marriage is invalid because George did not attain his father's approval and, if recognised, would exclude him from the line of succession on the grounds of Fitzherbert's Catholicism.

The gallery in Pall Mall exhibits large-scale canvases of scenes from Shakespeare's plays.

The new look in George's miniatures by Richard Cosway reflects the 'Florizel' persona he adopted during his short-lived affair with Mary Robinson.

The marriage quickly proves disastrous, but the couple have one child, Princess Charlotte.

George III acquires the Second Folio which formerly belonged to his ancestor, Charles I.

After the death of his favourite daughter, Amelia, the king's condition declines rapidly. He spends the last decade of his life isolated at Windsor Castle. His son is appointed 'Prince Regent' and takes on the powers of the monarch.

A final decisive victory forces Napoleon into exile. The monarchy is restored in France, and borders are redrawn across Europe.

Harlow's painting celebrates Shakespeare's play alongside the era's pre-eminent acting family, the Kembles.

She is the daughter of George III's fourth son, Edward, Duke of Kent, and his wife Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld.

After Dorothy Jordan's death and William's marriage to a German princess, Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen, a satirist imagines him haunted by Jordan's ghost.

Mocking George IV as a latter-day Falstaff, a satirist refers back to the 'Prince Hal' comparisons which were made in George's youth.

The young queen is only eighteen years old. Though she is the child of a younger son, Victoria has been in direct line to the throne for almost her whole life. She has been raised in seclusion at Kensington Palace by her mother.

On 10 February, Queen Victoria marries her first cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

The Pope restores the Catholic church to its full hierarchy in England. The decision provokes a flurry of anti-Catholic sentiment in England.

Victoria and Albert begin assembling their Theatrical Album.

Richard II is performed at Windsor. The production, directed by and starring Charles Kean, was a huge success with the royal family. After the private performance at Windsor they attended a further five times at the company's London base and collected various mementoes.

A tree identified as 'Herne's Oak' blows down in a storm.

The royal family mark Prince Henry of Battenburg's birthday with a series of tableaux vivants, including several Shakespearean scenes.

The future George V marries Princess May of Teck (later Queen Mary). Among their wedding presents is William Powell Frith's painting of Anne Page from The Merry Wives of Windsor.

She is succeeded by her son, Albert Edward, who becomes King Edward VII.

An embroidered copy of The Merry Wives of Windsor is presented to Queen Mary. The creator, a vicar's sister named Katharine Denison, had completed the embroidery in 1914 as a binding for an illustrated 1910 edition of the play.

After George V's death, his eldest son inherits the throne. Later the same year, he gives it up in order to marry an American divorcée, Wallis Simpson. His younger brother, George VI, becomes king.

Laurence Olivier's film of Henry V is screened in the Waterloo Chamber.