Safari: Restoring tabs/previous session not working, please help

Hello

As the title says, I'm having trouble restoring previous tabs/webpages after closing Safari (i.e. like on google chrome). After closing safari and reopening it, I get the homepage again.

I've tried changing "Safari Opens with: All windows from last session" in Safari preferences>General

I've also tried unticking "Close windows when quitting an application" in System Preferences>General

Non of these makes a difference and I've run out of ideas. I prefer Safari over google chrome because all my settings and bookmarks are synced to Safari from my iOS devices.

Also, "Reopen all windows from last session" in History is greyed out, so I can't use this feature.

Please help.