Back in 1588, Queen Elizabeth I believed she was a strong leader despite being, not because of being, a woman.

As troops prepared to defend against the invasion of the Spanish Armada, she reassured them that “I know I have the body of a weak, feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king”.

When the battle for women’s rights kicked off some three centuries later, Queen Victoria wrote that feminists “ought to get a good whipping” and that really, a woman’s role was that of a “helpmate for a man”.

In other words, two of the three most-famous queens of England weren’t exactly ardent feminists – by modern terms, anyway.

How the Queen made history for the women who will come after her