by Susan Flantzer

queen – noun – a female sovereign or monarch; the wife or consort of a king.

Origin of the word queen – first used before 900 in Middle English quene, quen; from Old English cwēn (woman, wife, consort, queen, empress, princess); *cognate with Old Saxon quān (wife), Old Norse kvān, Gothic qēns (wife), Scots wheen (pronounced queen), Middle Low German quene (elderly woman), Dutch kween (woman past child-bearing age), Swedish kvinna (woman), Icelandic kvon (wife), Norwegian kvån (wife)

*cognate – descended from the same language

from https://www.dictionary.com and https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/queen

Queen Consort

A Queen Consort is the wife of a reigning king. She shares her husband’s rank and status and holds the feminine equivalent of the king’s titles but does not share the king’s political powers. In the United Kingdom, a Queen Consort is styled Her Majesty Queen <first name>.

There has only been one husband of a Queen Regnant, a reigning queen, who had anything near the title of King Consort. Under the terms of the Act for the Marriage of Queen Mary I to Philip of Spain, Philip of Spain, the future King Philip II of Spain, was to enjoy Mary I’s titles and honors for as long as their marriage lasted and was styled King of England, King of France, King of Ireland and Defender of the Faith. The marriage was unsuccessful and childless and lasted until Mary I’s death four years later.

Queen Victoria wanted her husband Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to be King Consort but the British government refused to introduce a bill allowing it. In 1857, Queen Victoria created her husband Prince Consort, the only spouse of a Queen Regnant to hold that title.

In the past, some European monarchies had laws and rules that only equal marriages are full marriages for dynastic purposes. The marriage of a prince or king to a woman of a lesser rank was considered either morganatic or not valid at all. The woman and any children from the marriage did not enjoy the titles, privileges, and inheritance rights due to a member of the dynasty. That meant that princes and kings either had to marry members of their own extended family or marry someone from another monarchy.

However, equal marriage laws did not exist in England. Members of the various royal houses could marry into ordinary noble families or even marry into families below the nobility. Predominantly, English and British kings married into foreign ruling houses for political reasons. Of the forty-three consorts (male and female) since the Norman Conquest in 1066, thirty-three have been foreign-born, ten were native-born and nine were not of royal birth.

Several sovereigns had no consorts: King William II, King Edward V, King Edward VI, and Queen Elizabeth I were unmarried, King George I divorced his wife before he became king, and King Edward VIII did not marry until after he abdicated. King Henry IV and King James II had first wives who died before they became king so their second wives were their Queen Consort. King William III and his wife and first cousin Queen Mary II reigned jointly. They were both grandchildren of King Charles I.

English and British Consorts

Queen Dowager

A Queen Dowager is the widow of a king. After her husband’s death, she continues to enjoy the title, style, and precedence of a queen. However, many former Queens Consort do not formally use the word “dowager” as part of their titles.

English and British Queen Dowagers: *are also Queens Mother (see below)

Adeliza of Louvain, widow of King Henry I

Eleanor of Aquitaine*, widow of King Henry II

Berengaria of Navarre, widow of King Richard I

Isabella of Angoulême*, widow of King John

Eleanor of Provence*, widow of King Edward II

Marguerite of France, widow of King Edward III

Isabella of France*, widow of King Edward II

Isabella of Valois, widow of King Richard II

Joan of Navarre, widow of King Henry IV

Catherine of Valois*, widow of King Henry V

Margaret of Anjou, widow of King Henry VI

Elizabeth Woodville*, widow of King Edward IV

Catherine Parr, widow of King Henry VIII

Henrietta Maria of France*, widow of King Charles I

Catherine of Braganza, widow of King Charles II

Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen, widow of King William IV

Alexandra of Denmark*, widow of King Edward VII

Mary of Teck*, widow of King George V

Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon*, widow of King George VI

Queen Mother

A Queen Mother is the widow of a king, a Queen Dowager, who is also the mother of his successor. She continues to enjoy the title, style, and precedence of a queen after her husband’s death. Many think the title was created for the mother of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom who was styled Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. However, there is evidence that the term has been used in the English language since at least 1560. The State Prayers in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer refer to Henrietta Maria, the widow of King Charles I and the mother of King Charles II as “Mary the Queen Mother.” It is unclear how many Queens Mother formally used the title. Queen Alexandra, widow of King Edward VII and mother of King George V, and Queen Mary, widow of King George V and mother of King Edward VIII and King George VI, both preferred not to use the title.

English and British Queens Mothers:

Eleanor of Aquitaine, widow of King Henry II, mother of King Richard I and King John

Isabella of Angoulême, widow of King John, mother of King Henry III

Eleanor of Provence, widow of King Henry III, mother of King Edward I

Isabella of France, widow of King Edward II, mother of King Edward III

Catherine of Valois, widow of King Henry V, mother of King Henry VI

Elizabeth Woodville, widow of King Edward IV, mother of King Edward V

Henrietta Maria of France, widow of King Charles I, mother of King Charles II

Alexandra of Denmark, widow of King Edward VII, mother of King George V

Mary of Teck, widow of King George V, mother of King Edward VIII and King George VI

Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (styled Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother), widow of King George VI, mother of Queen Elizabeth II

Queen Regnant

A Queen Regnant is a female sovereign, equivalent in rank to a king, who reigns in her own right. Originally in England, there were no fixed rules governing succession to the throne. The sovereign could be determined by inheritance, statute, election, nomination by a reigning sovereign in his or her will, conquest or de facto possession. Over time, the default rule became male primogeniture and eventually, Parliament gained control of succession.

There were no laws in England saying a female could not succeed to the throne but kings wanted male heirs. In 1120, William Ætheling, King Henry I’s only legitimate son was returning to England from Normandy when his ship hit a submerged rock, capsized and sank. William Ætheling and many others drowned. See Unofficial Royalty: The Sinking of the White Ship and How It Affected the English Succession. Although King Henry I had many illegitimate children, the tragedy of the White Ship left him with only one legitimate child, his daughter Matilda. Henry I’s nephews were his closest male heirs. His first wife had died in 1118 and, Henry I, hoping for a male heir, married again but the marriage was childless. On Christmas Day 1126, King Henry I of England gathered his nobles at Westminster where they swore to recognize Matilda and any future legitimate heir she might have as his successors.

On December 1, 1135, King Henry I of England died. His nephew Stephen of Blois quickly crossed from France to England, seized power, and was crowned King of England. His cousin Matilda did not give up her claim to the throne, leading to the long civil war known as The Anarchy between 1135 and 1153. Matilda reigned for several months during 1141 but then her cousin Stephen regained power. Eventually, Stephen and Matilda’s son Henry agreed upon a negotiated peace, the Treaty of Winchester, in which Stephen recognized Henry as his heir. When Stephen died in 1154 and Henry ascended the throne as King Henry II, the first Angevin King of England.

King Henry VIII’s quest for a son to succeed him and his six marriages are well-known. Eventually, Henry did get a son to succeed him but he was sickly and reigned for only six years. Henry VIII’s younger daughter Queen Elizabeth I proved to be one of the greatest British monarchs.

Queen Victoria came to the throne after another succession crisis, the death in childbirth of King George III’s only legitimate grandchild Princess Charlotte of Wales. Her death left no legitimate heir in the second generation and prompted the aging sons of King George III to begin a frantic search for brides to provide for the succession. See Death of Princess Charlotte of Wales in childbirth and its impact on the British succession. For 114 years, Queen Victoria held the record as the longest-reigning British monarch until another Queen, her great-great-granddaughter Queen Elizabeth II surpassed her on September 9, 2015.

The Succession to The Crown Act 2013 put in place absolute primogeniture, which means the eldest child born becomes the heir to his or her parent, regardless of gender. This is retroactive to those born after October 28, 2011. With the birth of her younger brother Prince Louis of Cambridge on April 23, 2018, Princess Charlotte of Cambridge became the first British princess not to be overtaken in the line of succession by her younger brother.

English and British Queens Regnant