Queen dowager

A queen dowager has an important royal position (whether or not she is the mother of the reigning sovereign) but does not normally have any rights to succeed a king as monarch on his death unless she happens to be next in line to the throne (one possibility would be if the king and queen were also cousins and childless, the king had no other siblings, and she in her other position as his cousin was also his heiress presumptive).

A queen dowager continues to enjoy the title, style, and precedence of a queen, but is no longer referred to as the queen. A new reigning king would have (at accession or eventually) a wife who would be the new queen consort and therefore the queen; and, of course, a queen regnant would also be called the queen. Many former queens consort do not formally use the word "dowager" as part of their titles. There may be more than one queen dowager at any given time. The Garter King of Arms's proclamation in the United Kingdom of the styles and titles of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother at her funeral on 9 April 2002 illustrates her dual status as a queen dowager and a queen mother:

Thus it hath pleased Almighty God to take out of this transitory life unto His Divine Mercy the late Most High, Most Mighty and Most Excellent Princess Elizabeth, Queen Dowager and Queen Mother, Lady of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, Lady of the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle, Lady of the Imperial Order of the Crown of India, Grand Master and Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order upon whom had been conferred the Royal Victorian Chain, Dame Grand Cross of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, Dame Grand Cross of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John, Relict of His Majesty King George the Sixth and Mother of Her Most Excellent Majesty Elizabeth The Second by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith, Sovereign of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, whom may God preserve and bless with long life, health and honour and all worldly happiness.

A queen mother is a former queen, often a queen dowager, who is the mother of the current monarch. Not every queen mother is a queen dowager, such as Queen Paola of Belgium, who became the queen mother of her son Philippe after her husband Albert II abdicated the throne but retained the title of king.[1] Not all queens dowager are the queen mother; they may have a relation other than mother to the reigning monarch, such as aunt or grandmother. For example, Mary, Queen of Scots, was queen dowager of France after the death of her husband Francis II, to whom she bore no children. Similarly, Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen was queen dowager after her husband William IV was succeeded by his niece Victoria.

Not every mother of a reigning monarch is the queen mother or a queen dowager. For example, the mother of Queen Victoria of United Kingdom, Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, was not a queen dowager nor the queen mother because her husband, Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent, had never been king. Similarly, whilst being the mothers of monarchs, both Augusta of Saxe-Gotha and Srinagarindra of Thailand were not styled queen dowager because their respective husbands, Frederick, Prince of Wales and Mahidol Adulyadej, Prince of Songkla, were never kings. Instead, Augusta held the title of "Dowager Princess of Wales" (a precedent was Henry VII of England's mother, Lady Margaret Beaufort, titled "My Lady the King's Mother"); Srinagarindra meanwhile received the designation "Princess Mother".

As there is only one monarch, there can only be one queen mother. It is possible for there to be a queen mother and one or more queens dowager alive at any one time. This situation occurred in the Commonwealth realms in the period between the accession of Queen Elizabeth II on 6 February 1952 and the death of her paternal grandmother on 24 March 1953, when, for slightly over a year, there were three queens alive:

• Queen Elizabeth II, the reigning monarch (queen regnant).
• Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, the widow of the deceased King George VI and the mother of the reigning queen. Queen Elizabeth, the former queen consort, specifically adopted the appellation queen mother to distinguish herself from her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II. She reportedly loathed being referred to as a dowager queen, and felt there would be confusion if she were called simply by her name, as her two immediate predecessors, Queen Mary and Queen Alexandra, had been.
• Queen Mary, the widow of King George V, the mother of the former king Edward VIII (the then Duke of Windsor) and of the late King George VI. Queen Mary had been the queen mother from the death of her husband in 1936 until the accession of her granddaughter, Queen Elizabeth II, in 1952. She continued to be titled and styled Her Majesty Queen Mary.

There were several former queens consort of England, Scotland, and later the United Kingdom, who were never queen mothers. The following queens were dowagers between the given dates, whether queen mothers or not:

Of England:

• Edith of Wessex 5 January 1066 – 18 December 1075, wife of Edward the Confessor; sister of Harold Godwinson.
• Adeliza of Louvain 1 December 1135 – 23 April 1151, wife of Henry I of England; remarried to William d'Aubigny, 1st Earl of Arundel in 1139.
• Eleanor of Aquitaine 6 July 1189 – 1 April 1204, wife of Henry II of England; queen mother to Richard I and John.
• Berengaria of Navarre 6 April 1199 – 23 December 1230, wife of Richard I of England.
• Isabella of Angoulême 18/19 October 1216 – 31 May 1246, wife of John of England and queen mother to Henry III of England. Remarried to Hugh X of Lusignan 1220.
• Eleanor of Provence 16 November 1272 – 24 June 1291, wife of Henry III of England and queen mother to Edward I of England.
• Marguerite of France 7 July 1307 – 14 February 1317, wife of Edward I of England and stepmother to Edward II of England.
• Isabella of France September 1327 – 22 August 1358, wife of Edward II of England and queen mother to Edward III of England, from her husband's deposition on 20 January 1327.
• Isabella of Valois 14 February 1399 – 13 September 1409, wife of Richard II of England; ceased to be queen consort with Richard's deposition on 30 September 1399. Remarried to Charles I de Valois, Duke of Orléans on 29 June 1406.
• Joanna of Navarre 20 March 1413—9 July 1437, wife of Henry IV of England and stepmother to Henry V of England.
• Catherine of Valois 31 August 1422 – 3 January 1437, wife of Henry V of England and queen mother to Henry VI of England. Remarried to Owen Tudor in 1428 or 1429.
• Margaret of Anjou 21 May 1471 – 25 August 1482, wife of Henry VI of England.
• Elizabeth Woodville 9 April 1483 – 8 June 1492, wife of Edward IV of England and queen mother to Edward V of England until the latter's deposition in 1483.

Of England and Ireland

• Anne of Cleves survived her marriage to Henry VIII until her death on 16 July 1557, but since her marriage had been annulled on 12 July 1540, she was not considered a queen dowager.
• Catherine Parr 28 January 1547 – 5 September 1548, sixth and last wife of Henry VIII of England and stepmother to his children King Edward VI, Lady Mary and Lady Elizabeth.[2] Remarried to Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley most likely in mid-spring of 1547.[3]

Of Scotland

• Margaret of Wessex 13 November 1093 – 6 November 1093, wife of Malcolm III of Scotland.
• Ermengarde de Beaumont 4 December 1214 – 12 February 1233/34, wife of William I of Scotland and queen mother to Alexander II of Scotland.
• Marie de Coucy 6 July 1249 – 1285, wife of Alexander II of Scotland and queen mother to Alexander III of Scotland. Remarried to Jean de Brienne in 1257.
• Yolande of Dreux 19 March 1286 – 2 August 1322, wife of Alexander III of Scotland. Remarried to Arthur II, Duke of Brittany in 1292.
• Joan Beaufort 21 February 1437 – 15 July 1445, wife of James I of Scotland and queen mother to James II of Scotland. Remarried to James Stewart in 1439.
• Mary of Guelders 3 August 1460 – 1 December 1463, wife of James II of Scotland and queen mother to James III of Scotland.
• Margaret Tudor 9 September 1513 – 8 October 1541, wife of James IV of Scotland and queen mother to James V of Scotland. Remarried to Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus in 1514 and Henry Stewart, 1st Lord Methven in 1528.
• Mary of Guise 14 December 1542 – 11 June 1560, wife of James V of Scotland and queen mother to Mary, Queen of Scots.

Of England, Ireland and Scotland

• Henrietta Maria of France 30 January 1649 – 10 September 1669, wife of Charles I and queen mother to Charles II.
• Catherine of Braganza 6 February 1685 – 30 November 1705, wife of Charles II.
• Mary of Modena 16 September 1701 – 7 May 1718, wife of James II and VII; ceased to be queen consort with his deposition on 11 December 1688.

Of the United Kingdom:

• Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen 20 June 1837 – 2 December 1849, wife of William IV.
• Alexandra of Denmark 6 May 1910 – 20 November 1925, wife of Edward VII, queen mother to George V.
• Mary of Teck 20 January 1936 – 24 March 1953, wife of George V, queen mother to Edward VIII and George VI until the latter's death on 6 February 1952.
• Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon 6 February 1952 – 30 March 2002, wife of George VI and queen mother to Elizabeth II – styled as Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.

If the current queen consort, Queen Camilla, outlives the incumbent king, King Charles III, she will become a queen dowager, while King Charles’s son and daughter in law become the new king and queen consort respectively. She would not be known as a queen mother, as she is not the biological parent of Prince William.

Note that in some of the countries mentioned below it is unusual to indicate a former queen-consort as a dowager.

In the novel series The Princess Diaries, the character Princess Clarisse Marie Grimaldi Renaldo is the princess dowager of the principality of Genovia. In the films, where Genovia is portrayed as a kingdom, Clarisse is portrayed as a dowager queen.

In the fantasy novel series A Song of Ice and Fire, and later the HBO series Game of Thrones, the character Cersei Lannister became the queen mother to King Joffrey Baratheon after her husband Robert Baratheon was killed in a hunting accident, although she managed to strong-arm the position of regent as well, and was thus known as the "queen regent". In the episode "High Sparrow", the new queen consort, Margaery Tyrell, mocks Cersei's loss of power by asking her to clarify whether she should be addressed as queen mother or dowager queen.

In the 2015 Indian movie Baahubali-The Beginning and its sequel Baahubali-the Conclusion, actress Ramya Krishnan portrays the character "Rajamatha Shivagami Devi". In most Indian languages, the word 'rajamata' means 'Queen-Mother'.

In the video game Long Live the Queen, after the queen regnant of the kingdom of Nova is assassinated, her widower is referred to as the king-dowager.