25th September – 29th September, various times and venues in SW3

London’s annual celebration of history and heritage will again be bringing top authors and family fun to three spectacular venues: the National Army Museum, the Royal Hospital Chelsea and Chelsea Physic Garden.

This year’s highlights include talks from James Holland, Zeinab Badawi, Terry Deary, Jonathan Dimbleby and Kate Mosse. You can also enjoy a wide range of walking tours and workshops, plus a captivating choral concert at the Royal Hospital’s Wren Chapel.

The Polish Cultural Institute in London is proud to support the festival once again this year and sponsor two brilliant talks on different aspects of Polish History.

This year’s events supported by the Polish Cultural Institute are:

26th September, 5pm – Izabela the Valiant

Exploring a vast family archive and forgotten sources in many languages, Adam Zamoyski has recreated the dramatic life of his great-great-great grandmother, cast into a man’s world in 18th century Europe. Her aristocratic position enmeshed her in high politics and close encounters with Frederick the Great, Benjamin Franklin, Rousseau, Joseph II, Marie-Antoinette and Catherine the Great. She lived through revolution and no less than five wars.

This is a story of triumph over adversity and betrayal, during a tumultuous time in the history of Poland and Europe.

Tickets: Izabela the Valiant – Chelsea Heritage Quarter

26th September, 7:30pm – Agent Zo

Clare Mulley tells the incredible story of wartime resistance fighter Elżbieta Zawacka, known as ‘Agent Zo’ – the only woman to parachute from Britain to Nazi German-occupied Poland. One of the most highly decorated women in Polish history, her achievements remained hidden for over forty years.

She was the only woman to join the Polish elite Special Forces. Secretly trained in the British countryside, she parachuted back behind enemy lines to Nazi-occupied Poland. Hunted by the Gestapo, she took a leading role in the Warsaw Uprising and the liberation of Poland.

Tickets: Agent Zo – Chelsea Heritage Quarter

To see the full programme, visit the new Chelsea Heritage Quarter website for full event listings and to book online.

About the Chelsea History Festival

Founded in 2019, the Chelsea History Festival aims to entertain, educate and inspire through local, national and global history.

This year’s festival is delivered by the newly launched Chelsea Heritage Quarter, a collaboration between the National Army Museum, Chelsea Physic Garden, the Royal Hospital Chelsea and Cadogan.