The Earl of Strafford, Thomas Wentworth. National Portrait Gallery.

Attention to detail and accuracy is what marks the difference between the hobbyist and the professional. And some of us actually enjoy the research.

Just before the turn of the 17th century in 1593, Thomas Wentworth was born in London, into fortune, property and prestige. But he sought more than anything what he did not have: a royal title. An earldom. It would come at the greatest cost.

When Frederick Douglass spoke at an anti-slavery convention in 1841, he was part of pattern in history, the Power of '41.

These two members of feuding Anglo-Irish families were actually cousins, and made an unlikely couple until events shifted, ultimately allowing a marriage of choice rather than arrangement.

If you are serious about your products, you might want to be equally as serious about your personal brand that represents them.

Charles II valued many things, including art, architecture, ships and science, but above all he had “an absolute commitment to his own survival.”

For personal branding, where other monarchs have provided lessons for success, King Charles I of England provides more of a cautionary tale.

Victoria became a powerhouse in a diminutive package, similar perhaps to Napoleon Bonaparte, but she used her power in strategic ways and avoided the pitfalls that plagued the French emperor.