Movies like The Lion in Winter (2003)
The best movies like The Lion in Winter (2003) are Mary Queen of Scots (2018), Firebrand (2024) and Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007). If The Lion in Winter hooked you with its drama and history, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Lion in Winter (1968)7.4/10 from 424 votes
- NewestFirebrand (2024)Released 2024
Mary Queen of Scots (2018)
In 1561, Mary Stuart, widow of the King of France, returns to Scotland, reclaims her rightful throne and menaces the future of Queen Elizabeth I as ruler of England, because she has a legitimate claim to the English throne. Betrayals, rebellions, conspiracies and their own life choices imperil both Queens. They experience the bitter cost of power, until their tragic fate is finally fulfilled.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFirebrand (2024)
Katherine Parr, the sixth wife of King Henry VIII, is named regent while the tyrant battles abroad. When the king returns, increasingly ill and paranoid, Katherine finds herself fighting for her own survival.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisElizabeth: The Golden Age (2007)
When Queen Elizabeth's reign is threatened by ruthless familial betrayal and Spain's invading army, she and her shrewd adviser must act to safeguard the lives of her people.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Young Victoria (2009)
As the only legitimate heir of England's King William, teenage Victoria gets caught up in the political machinations of her own family. Victoria's mother wants her to sign a regency order, while her Belgian uncle schemes to arrange a marriage between the future monarch and Prince Albert, the man who will become the love of her life.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMary of Scotland (1936)
The recently widowed Mary Stuart returns to Scotland to reclaim her throne but is opposed by her half-brother and her own Scottish lords.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLady Jane (1986)
The death of King Henry VIII throws his kingdom into chaos because of succession disputes. His weak son, Edward, is on his deathbed. Anxious to keep England true to the Reformation, a scheming minister John Dudley marries off his son, Guildford to Lady Jane Grey, whom he places on the throne after Edward dies. At first hostile to each other, Guildford and Jane fall in love, but they cannot withstand the course of power which will lead to their ultimate downfall.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939)
This period drama frames the tumultuous affair between Queen Elizabeth I and the man who would be King of England.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Virgin Queen (1955)
Sir Walter Raleigh overcomes court intrigue to win favor with the Queen in order to get financing for a proposed voyage to the New World.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Elizabeth: A Portrait in Part(s) (2022)
Elizabeth is an archive-based documentary film about the Queen. A celebration. A truly cinematic mystery-tour up and down the decades: poetic, funny, disobedient, ungovernable, affectionate, inappropriate, mischievous, in awe. Funny. Moving. Different. The Queen as never before.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Bertie and Elizabeth (2002)
The life of England’s George VI, who was forced to become King following the abdication of his brother, and his relationship with his wife, Elizabeth.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Young Bess (1953)
The mother died under the executioner's axe; the daughter rose to become England's greatest monarch -- the brilliant and cunning Queen Elizabeth I. Jean Simmons portrays young Bess in this rich tapestry of a film that traces the tumultuous, danger-fraught years from Elizabeth's birth to her unexpected ascension to the throne at a mere 25. Charles Laughton reprises his Academy Award®-winning* role as her formidable father Henry VIII. Deborah Kerr plays her last stepmother (and Henry's last of six wives), gentle Catherine Parr. And Simmons' then real-life husband, Stewart Granger, adds heroics as Lord Admiral Thomas Seymour. In a resplendent world of adventure, romance and court intrigue, Young Bess reigns.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Saraband for Dead Lovers (1948)
Sophie Dorothea is a young woman forced into a loveless marriage with Prince George Louis of Hanover. George Louis is later crowned King George I of England. Despairing of ever experiencing true love, the depressed queen finds life at court no solace. Sophie then falls for a dashing Swedish soldier of fortune, Count Konigsmark.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both romance & history
Anne of the Thousand Days (1969)
Henry VIII of England discards his wife, Katharine of Aragon, who has failed to produce a male heir, in favor of the young and beautiful Anne Boleyn.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCromwell (1970)
Disgusted with the policies of King Charles I, Oliver Cromwell plans to take his family to the New World. But on the eve of their departure, Cromwell is drawn into the tangled web of religion and politics that will result in the English Civil War.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Private Life of Henry VIII (1933)
Renowned for his excess, King Henry VIII goes through a series of wives during his rule. With Anne Boleyn, his second betrothed, executed on charges of treason, Henry weds maid Jane Seymour, but that wedded bliss also ends in tragedy. Not one to be single for long, the tyrannical king chooses German-born Anne of Cleves, but their union lasts only months before an annulment is granted, and so Henry's reign of spousal terror continues.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both history & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Scarlet Empress (1934)
During the 18th century, German noblewoman Sophia Frederica, who would later become Catherine the Great, travels to Moscow to marry the dimwitted Grand Duke Peter, the heir to the Russian throne. Their arranged marriage proves to be loveless, and Catherine takes many lovers, including the handsome Count Alexei, and bears a son. When the unstable Peter eventually ascends to the throne, Catherine plots to oust him from power.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFire Over England (1937)
In 1588, relations between Spain and England are at the breaking point. With the support of Queen Elizabeth I, British sea raiders such as Sir Francis Drake regularly capture Spanish merchantmen, bringing gold from the New World.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both history & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHenry VIII (1979)
Henry is a proud monarch who flies in the face of the church in seeking to divorce Queen Katherine and marry Anne Bullen. As cardinal Wolsey, the powerful Lord Chancellor of England, attempts to bend Rome to the King's wishes, the court reverbates with political intrigue and accusations of treachery.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both history & drama
Henry IV Part 1 (1979)
Henry Bolingbroke has now been crowned King of England, but faces a rebellion headed by the embittered Earl of Northumberland and his son (nicknamed 'Hotspur'). Henry's son Hal, the Prince of Wales, has thrown over life at court in favour of heavy drinking and petty theft in the company of a debauched elderly knight, Sir John Falstaff. Hal must extricate himself from some legal problems, regain his father's good opinions and help suppress the uprising.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Henry V (1989)
In 1415, in the midst of the Hundred Years' War, the young King Henry V of England embarks on the conquest of France.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSaint Joan (1957)
In 1456, French King Charles VII recalls the story of how he met the 17-year-old peasant girl Joan of Arc, entrusted her with the command of the French Army, and ultimately burned her at the stake as a heretic.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both history & drama
Elizabeth (1998)
The story of the ascension to the throne and the early reign of Queen Elizabeth the First, the endless attempts by her council to marry her off, the Catholic hatred of her and her romance with Lord Robert Dudley.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMary, Queen of Scots (1971)
Mary Stuart, who was named Queen of Scotland when she was only six days old, is the last Roman Catholic ruler of Scotland. She is imprisoned at the age of 23 by her cousin Elizabeth Tudor, the English Queen and her arch adversary. Nineteen years later the life of Mary is to be ended on the scaffold and with her execution the last threat to Elizabeth's throne has been removed. The two Queens with their contrasting personalities make a dramatic counterpoint to history.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEdward II (1991)
England, 14th century. King Edward II falls in love with Piers Gaveston, a young man of humble origins, whom he honors with favors and titles of nobility. The cold and jealous Queen Isabella conspires with the evil Mortimer to get rid of Gaveston, overthrow her husband and take power…
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both history & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Other Boleyn Girl (2003)
Based on the controversial novel by Philippa Gregory, "The Other Boleyn Girl" is a fictionalised account of the life of Lady Mary Boleyn who becomes mistress to England's king, Henry VIII, before being ousted by her younger sister, Anne. Mary leaves the Court to marry a commoner, but returns when Anne embarks on a reckless policy to save herself from ruin.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Lion in Winter (1968)
Christmas 1183, Angevin Empire: King Henry II plans to announce his successor to the throne. Jockeying for the crown, though, is complex. Henry has three sons and wants his boy Prince John to take over. Henry's wife, Queen Eleanor, believes their son Prince Richard should be king. As family and various schemers gather for the holiday, each tries to make the indecisive king choose their option.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMary, Queen of Scots (2013)
The life and death of the Scottish monarch.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
The Scandalous Lady W (2015)
A gripping 18th century drama details the scandalous life of Lady Seymour Worsley, who dared to leave her husband and elope with his best friend, Captain George Bisset. Lady Seymour Worsley escapes her troubled marriage only to find herself at the centre of a very public trial brought by her powerful husband Sir Richard Worsley.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Invisible Woman (2013)
In 1857, at the height of his fame and fortune, novelist and social critic Charles Dickens meets and falls in love with teenage stage actress Nelly Ternan. As she becomes the focus of his heart and mind, as well as his muse, painful secrecy is the price both must pay.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Edge of Love (2008)
When the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas and his flirtatious wife Caitlin sweep into war-torn London, the last thing they expect is to bump into Dylan's childhood sweetheart Vera. Despite her joy at seeing Dylan after so many years, Vera is swept off her feet by a dashing officer, William Killick, and finds herself torn between the open adoration of her new found beau and the wily charms of the exotic Welshman.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Lion in Winter?
The closest matches to The Lion in Winter are Mary Queen of Scots (2018), Firebrand (2024) and Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Lion in Winter?
People who watched The Lion in Winter most often go on to Mary Queen of Scots (2018), Firebrand (2024) and Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007).
What is the highest-rated movie like The Lion in Winter?
The Lion in Winter (1968), rated 7.4/10 by 424 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Lion in Winter?
Firebrand (2024) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Lion in Winter?
Yes: Mary Queen of Scots (2018), Firebrand (2024) and Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007).
How are movies similar to The Lion in Winter chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Lion in Winter, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.