Queen mother

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For the African use of the term, see Queen mothers (Africa).

Imperial, royal, princely, others

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Emperor / Empress

King / Queen

Archduke / Archduchess

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Prince / Princess / Infante / Infanta / Królewicz /

królewna

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/ Fürst / Fürstin

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Margrave / Landgrave /
Count palatine

Count / Countess / Earl

Burgrave / Châtelain / Castellan
 Viscount/Viscountess / Vidame

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Chevalier

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Gentleman / Younger / Maid

 v
 t
 e

A queen mother is a dowager queen who is the mother of the reigning monarch (or an empress
mother in the case of an empire).[1]The term has been used in English since at least 1560.[2] It
arises in hereditary monarchies in Europe and is also used to describe a number of similar yet
distinct monarchical concepts in non-European cultures around the world.
"The Queen Mother" usually refers to Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, 1900–2002 (queen,
1936–1952; queen mother, 1952–2002), who was the mother of Queen Elizabeth II, and held the
status of queen mother for 50 years.

Contents

 1Status
o 1.1Britain
o 1.2Ottoman Empire
o 1.3Other oriental monarchies
o 1.4African monarchies
 2Notable mothers of kings and queens regnant
 3Exceptional cases
 4"King mother"
 5King father
 6Queen grandmother
 7Current European comparisons
 8See also
 9References
Status[edit]
A widowed queen consort, or dowager queen, has an important royal position (regardless
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 new reigning king would have (at accession or eventually) a wife who would be the new queen
consort; and, of course, a queen regnant would also be called 'queen'. More to the point, there
may be more than one queen dowager at any given time.
Britain[edit]
Main article: British queen mothers

The widowed mother of Queen Elizabeth II was known as Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.

The title "queen mother" evolved to distinguish a queen dowager from all other queens when she
is also the mother of the reigning sovereign. Thus, upon the death of her husband, King George
V, Queen Mary became queen mother, retaining the status throughout the reigns of her
sons, Edward VIII and George VI.
The title also distinguishes former queen consorts from those who are simply the mother of the
current monarch. For example, Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld was "the Queen's
mother" when her daughter Victoria became queen regnant, but she was not "queen mother".
The title in British usage is purely a courtesy title. While the wife of a king is called "queen", there
is no constitutional or statutory recognition of "queen mother" as a title.
There is no male equivalent to a queen mother (i.e. "king father"). This would occur only if the
husband of a queen regnant outlived the queen and was thereafter father to the new king or
queen. Such a situation has never occurred. The exact title such a person would assume has not
been clarified by royal lineage experts.[3]
Ottoman Empire[edit]
Main article: Valide sultan

In the Ottoman Empire, Valide sultan (Ottoman Turkish: ‫ )والده سلطان‬or Sultana mother was the title
held by the mother of a ruling Sultan.[4] The title was first used in the 16th century for Hafsa
Sultan, consort of Selim I and mother of Suleiman the Magnificent, superseding the previous title
of mehd-i ülya ("cradle of the great").[4] The Turkish pronunciation of the word Valide is [vaː.liˈde].
The position was perhaps the most important position in the Ottoman Empire after the sultan
himself. As the mother to the sultan, by Islamictradition ("A mother's right is God's right"),[5] the
valide sultan would have a significant influence on the affairs of the empire. She had great power
in the court and her own rooms (always adjacent to her son's) and state staff.[4] In particular
during the 17th century, in a period known as the "Sultanate of Women", a series of incompetent
or child sultans raised the role of the valide sultan to new heights.[6]
Other oriental monarchies[edit]
In India, a queen (often styled rani or begum) who becomes queen-mother is known in Hindi as
a rajmata.
African monarchies[edit]
Main article: Queen mothers (Africa)

In Swaziland, for example, the queen mother, or Ndlovukati, reigns alongside her son. She
serves as a ceremonial figurehead, while her son serves as the administrative head of state. He
has absolute power. She is important at festivals such as the annual reed dance ceremony.
In many matrilineal societies of West Africa, such as the Ashanti, the queen mother is the one
through whom royal descent is reckoned and thus wields considerable power. One of the
greatest leaders of Ashanti was Nana Yaa Asantewaa (1840–1921), who led her subjects
against the British Empire during the War of the Golden Stool in 1900.
In more symbolically driven societies such as the kingdoms of the Yoruba peoples, the queen
mother may not even be a blood relative of the reigning monarch. She could be a female
individual of any age who is vested with the ritual essence of the departed queens in a
ceremonial sense, and who is practically regarded as the monarch's mother as a result. A good
example of this is Oloye Erelu Kuti of Lagos, who has been seen as the iya oba or queen mother
of every succeeding king of that realm, due to the activities of the three successors to her noble
title that have reigned since her demise.

Notable mothers of kings and queens regnant[edit]

These mothers of monarchs, and others, albeit not always officially so titled have also been
considered equal to queen mothers:

 Adela of Champagne (1180–1206) France

 Adelaide of Aquitaine (996–1004) France
 Adelaide of Maurienne (1137–1154) France
 Queen Alexandra (1910–1925): widow of King Edward VII and mother of King George V.
 Amarindra (1810–1826) Siam
 Amélie of Orléans (1908–1910) Portugal
 Alexandrine of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1947–1952) Denmark
 Anna Pavlovna of Russia (1849–1865) Netherlands
 Anne of Austria (1643–1666) France and Navarre
 Anne of Kiev (1060–1075) France
 Augusta of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (1888) Prussia
 Ayşe Hafsa Sultan (1520–1534) Ottoman Empire
 Bathsheba (11th century BC) Israel and Judah
 Beatrice of Castile (1279–1303) Portugal
 Beatrice of Castile (1357–1359) Portugal
 Blanche of Castile (1226–1252) France
 Bona Sforza (1548–1557) Poland and Lithuania
 Carlota Joaquina of Spain (1825–1830)
 Catherine de Medici (1559–1589) France
 Catherine of Lancaster (1406–1418) Castile
 Catherine of Valois (1401–1437) England
 Charlotte of Savoy (1483) France
 Charlotte Amalie of Hesse-Kassel (1699–1714) Denmark and Norway
 Christina of Holstein-Gottorp (1611–1625) Sweden
 Christina of Saxony (1513–1521) Denmark and Norway
 Clementia of Hungary (1316) France
 Constance of Arles (1031–1032) France
 Desideria (1844–1859) Sweden and Norway
 Dorothea of Brandenburg (1481–1495) Denmark and Norway
 Dorothea of Saxe-Lauenburg (1559–1571) Denmark and Norway
 Eleanor of Alburquerque (1416–1435) Aragon
 Eleanor of Aquitaine (1189–1204) England
 Eleanor of Aragon (1438–1445) Portugal
 Eleanor of Provence (1272–1291) England
 Eleonor Magdalene of Neuburg (1705–1720) Hungary and Bohemia
 Elena of Montenegro (1946) Italy
 Elisabeth of Bavaria (1934–1951) Belgium
 Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (1952–2002): the widow of King George VI and mother of Queen
Elizabeth II. In some of the British media, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother was often
referred to as the Queen Mum, and the term "Queen Mother" remains associated with her
after her death.
 Elisabeth Farnese (1759–1766)
 Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (1745–1750) Hungary and Bohemia
 Elizabeth of Aragon (1325–1336) Portugal
 Elizabeth, Queen Dowager of England (1483) England
 Emma of Waldeck and Pyrmont (1890–1934) Netherlands
 Ermengarde de Beaumont (1214–1233) Scotland
 Frederica of Hanover (1964–1981) Greece
 Frederika Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt (1797–1805) Prussia
 Gayatri Devi (1919–2009) Jaipur (India)
 Gayatri Rajapatni (1309–1350) Majapahit (Indonesia)
 Giovanna of Italy (1943–1946) Bulgaria
 Handan Valide Sultan (1574–1605) Ottoman Empire
 Halaevalu Mataʻaho ʻAhomeʻe (2006–2017) Tonga
Queen Hedwig Eleanor or Sweden (née Princess of Holstein-Gottorp) was twice regent of that country,
once for her only son, once for a grandson

 Hedvig Eleonora of Holstein-Gottorp (1636–1715) Sweden

 Helen of Greece and Denmark (1940–1948) Romania
 Henrietta Maria of France (1649–1669) England and Scotland
 Ingrid of Sweden (1972–2000) Denmark
 Isabeau of Bavaria (1422–1435) France
 Isabel II of Spain (1874–1885) Spain
 Isabella of Angoulême (1216–1246) England
 Isabella of France (1327–1358) England
 Isabella of Portugal (1474–1496)
 Joan Beaufort, Queen of Scots (1437–1445) Scotland
 Josephine of Leuchtenberg (1859–1876) Sweden and Norway
 Jijabai (1598–1674) Maratha Empire (India)
 Juana Manuel (1379–1381) Castile
 Keōpūolani (1778–1823) Hawaii (United States)
 Kesang Choden (1972–2006) Bhutan
 Kosem Valide Sultan (1623–1648) Ottoman Empire
 Louisa Ulrika of Prussia (1771–1782) Sweden
 Louise of Sweden (1912–1926) Denmark
 Luisa de Guzmán (1656–1666) Portugal
 Margaret Tudor (1513–1541) Scotland
 Margaret of Provence (1270–1285) France
 Margaret of Savoy (1900–1926) Italy
 Maria of Austria (1576–1603) Hungary and Bohemia
 Maria of Romania (1934–1961) Yugoslavia
 Maria Amalia of Saxony (1759–1760) Naples and Sicily
 Maria Anna of Austria (1750–1754) Portugal
 Maria Christina of Austria (1906–1929) Spain
 Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies (1833–1868) Spain
 Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg (1632–1654) Sweden
 María Isabella of Spain (1830–1848) Two Sicilies
 Maria Luisa of Parma (1808–1819) Spain
 Maria Luisa of Spain (1792) Hungary and Bohemia
 Maria Pia of Savoy (1889–1908)
 Maria Theresa (1765–1780) Germany
 Mariana of Austria (1665–1696) Spain
 Mariana Victoria of Spain (1777 –1781) Portugal
 Marie de Coucy (1249–1285) Scotland
 Marie de' Medici (1610–1642) France
 Marie of Anjou (1461–1463) France
 Marie of Prussia (1864–1889)
 Marie of Edinburgh (1930–1938) Romania
 Mary of Guelders (1460–1463) Scotland
 Mary of Guise (1542–1560) Scotland
 Queen Mary (1936–1952): widow of King George V and mother of kings Edward
VIII and George VI. Queen Mary never used the title Queen Mother, because she thought it
implied advancing years,[7] choosing instead to be known as "Queen Mary" and that style was
used to describe her in the Court Circular. But she was a queen mother just the same.
 Nana Afia Kobi Serwaa Ampem II (1999–2016) Ashanti people (Ghana)
 Musbah bint Nasser (1951–1952) Jordan
 Narriman Sadek (1952–1953) Egypt
 Nazli Sabri (1936–1950) Egypt
 Norodom Monineath (from 2004) Cambodia
 Nurbanu Sultan (1574–1583) Ottoman Empire
 Olga Constantinovna of Russia (1913–1922) Greece
 Pauline Therese of Württemberg (1864–1873) Württemberg
 Phuntsho Choden (1952–1972) Bhutan
 Safiye Sultan (1595–1603) Ottoman Empire
 Saovabha Phongsri (1910–1919) Thailand
 Sirikit (from 2016) Thailand
 Sophia of Nassau (1907–1913) Sweden
 Sophia of Prussia (1922–1936) Greece
 Sophie of Mecklenburg-Güstrow (1588–1631) Denmark and Norway
 Sophie Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1670–1685) Denmark and Norway
 Sophia Dorothea of Hanover (1740–1757) Prussia
 Sophia Magdalena of Denmark (1792–1809) Sweden
 Sophie Magdalene of Brandenburg-Kulmbach (1746–1766) Denmark and Norway
 Tadj ol-Molouk (1896 – 1982) Persia (Iran)
 Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen (1848–1854)
 Tiye (14th century BC) Egypt
 Tshering Yangdon (from 2006) Bhutan
 Turhan Hatice Sultan (1651–1681) Ottoman Empire
 Victoria, Princess Royal (1888–1901) Prussia
 Zein al-Sharaf Talal (1952–1994) Jordan
 Mura was mother of Chandragupta Maurya

Exceptional cases[edit]

Duchess Ingeborg was regent of Norway and Sweden 1318–1319

 Ingeborg of Norway (1301–1361), Duchess of Sweden, acted and ranked as if she were a
queen regnant for a year before the Swedish reign of her son, King Magnus IV, and
thereafter as if she were his queen mother, serving intermittently on his board of regents.
 However, though she has been called the King Mother in biographical literature, she was
never officially recognized as queen or queen mother.[8]
 Her granddaughter-in-law Margaret (1353–1412), who ruled all of Scandinavia as the mother
of one king and the adoptive mother of another, held a similarly complicated unofficial
position but for much longer, and in traditional history is given the title of Queen. Early in her
career, she had been Queen consort of Norway for seventeen years and of Sweden for one
year.
 Jijabai (1598–1674) was neither consort of a ruling king nor a ruling queen or regent. In
practical terms her husband Shahaji was a nobleman under other rulers, but her son
founded an independent empire and became its sovereign. Hence she is given the title
Queen Mother – Rajmata in Hindi.
 Sadijé Toptani (1876–1934), mother of King Zog I of Albania: after her son became king in
1928 she was raised to the title Queen Mother of the Albanians (Nëna Mbretëreshë e
Shqiptarëve) with the style of Her Majesty, a position she held from September 1, 1928, until
her death.
 Helen of Greece and Denmark was the wife of the future Carol II of Romania from 1921 to
1928, and mother of King Michael of Romania. Michael first ruled 1927–30, before his father
was king, and again after his father abdicated. When in 1930 Carol returned to Romania and
assumed the throne, he actually retrodated his reign to 1927, the year his father (King
Ferdinand) died. As Helen had not yet divorced her playboy husband at the time (that was to
happen in the following year), he unwittingly granted her the retroactive title of queen. Thus,
in 1940, after his abdication and the second accession of their son, she rightfully became the
queen mother of Romania.
 Similarly, Gayatri Devi, Maharani of Jaipur (1919–2009) was the third wife of her husband,
the monarch, but not the mother of his successor, a son by the king's first wife. However, she
has been accorded the title of queen mother (Rajmata) anyway.
 The Valide Sultan or Sultana mother was title which usually held by the mother of the
reigning Ottoman Sultan, even though she may never have been chief consort (haseki
sultan).
 Shubhadrangi was mother of future emperor Ashoka, but was murdered by Susima in order
to save her daughter in law. She was not able to be empress mother (rajmata)
 Helena maurya the second wife of Chandragupta Maurya, was step mother of Bindusara,
who held title of rajmata until her death.

"King mother"[edit]
Diana, Princess of Wales, reportedly once suggested to journalist Andrew Morton (author
of Diana: Her True Story) that when her son, Prince William, became king, she would be known
as "King Mother".[9] No such designation has ever officially existed, nor is there independent
evidence that such terminology was ever considered. Queen mother means "queen who is
mother to the current monarch", not "mother of the queen"; "king mother" is a contradiction in
terms.[citation needed] However, of note, and possibly Diana's basis for the idea, was the style My Lady
The King's Mother, held by Margaret Beaufort during the reign of her son, Henry VII of England.

King father[edit]
If a king were to abdicate and pass the throne to his child, then in that case the king could have
his son or daughter style him as a king father. King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia was styled
as HM King Father Norodom Sihanouk when he abdicated in favor of his son.[10] When King
Albert II of the Belgians abdicated in 2013 his style shortened to His Majesty King Albert (as did
King Leopold's before him); "king father" is the name of his role rather than forming part of his
style or title.
Currently Jigme Singye Wangchuck is the king father of Bhutan.
When Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien III of Brunei abdicated, he became the Begawan Sultan or the
Sultan Father or Begawan Sultan. He was given the title of His Majesty the Sultan-Father or in
Malay was Duli Yang Teramat Mulia Paduka Seri Begawan Sultan and this office became vacant
when he died.
Francis, Duke of Cádiz, king consort of Isabel II of Spain, was king father to Alfonso XII of
Spain and later king grandfather to Alfonso XIII of Spain.
Ferdinand II of Portugal, jure uxoris king to Maria II of Portugal, was king father to Pedro V of
Portugal and Luís I of Portugal.
Following his abdication, Ludwig I of Bavaria was king father to Maximilian II of Bavaria and later
king grandfather to Ludwig II of Bavaria.
In China, a living monarch who passed the throne to his son was called Taishang Huang.

Queen grandmother[edit]
Bhutan is the only country in the world that currently has a queen grandmother. The title is
currently held by Kesang Choden, grandmother of Jigme Khesar Namgyel
Wangchuck. Phuntsho Choden was previously queen grandmother from 1972 to 2003 under the
reign of Jigme Singye Wangchuck.
In 1603, when Ahmed I ascended the throne upon the death of his father Mehmed III, his
grandmother Valide Safiye Sultan was still alive. Thus, she was Büyük Valide Sultan or Sultana
grandmother. It also happened with Kösem Sultan when her grandson Mehmed IV was
appointed sultan.
The same thing happened when Queen Elizabeth II ascended the throne: the Queen Mother
was Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and, unofficially, the Queen Grandmother was Queen
Mary.
Although none of her sons succeeded to the throne of Thailand, Savang Vadhana became
queen grandmother under the reigns of her grandsons Ananda Mahidol and Bhumibol Adulyadej.
Chandragupta Maurya’s grandmother, Sonarika held title of empress grandmother in his reign.
She might be living in her great- grandson’s reign so might held the title of empress great-
grandmother. Although it was confirmed that she was there at bindusara’s birth.
Bindusara’s grandmother Mura (mother of Chandragupta maurya), held the title of empress
grandmother in his reign until her death
Other examples of Queen grandmothers include Elisabeth of Bavaria under Baudouin of
Belgium, Sophie Magdalene of Brandenburg-Kulmbach under Christian VII of Denmark, Isabella
II of Spain under Alfonso XIII of Spain, Désirée Clary under Charles XV of Sweden, Hedwig
Eleonora of Holstein-Gottorp under Charles XII of Sweden, Olga Constantinovna of
Russia under Alexander of Greece and George II of Greece, Margaret of Provence under Philip
IV of France, Augusta of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach under Wilhelm II, German Emperor, Maria Pia
of Savoy under Manuel II of Portugal, Carlota Joaquina of Spain under Maria II of
Portugal, Catherine of Austria under Sebastian of Portugal, Musbah bint Nasserunder Hussein of
Jordan, and Marie of Edinburgh under Michael I of Romania.
The East Asian counterpart of Queen grandmother is called Grand empress dowager.

Current European comparisons[edit]

Hold a similar role as mothers or fathers of their country's reigning monarchs:

 HRH Jean, Grand Duke of Luxembourg (from 2000),

 HRH Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands (from 2013),
 HM King Albert II of Belgium (from 2013),
 HM Queen Paola of Belgium (from 2013),
 HM King Juan Carlos I of Spain (from 2014),
 HM Queen Sofía of Spain (from 2014).
See also[edit]
 Mahd-i Ulya
 Empress dowager
 Valide sultan
 Ndlovukati
 Queen dowager

References[edit]
1. Jump up^ A queen mother is defined as "A Queen dowager who is the mother of the reigning
sovereign" by both the Oxford English Dictionary and Webster's Third New International
Dictionary.
2. Jump up^ "Queen mother". Oxford English Dictionary (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press.
September 2005. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
3. Jump up^ U.S. National Archives, "When Queen Elizabeth Dies", Prologue Magazine, Summer
1998
4. ^ Jump up to:a b c Davis, Fanny (1986). "The Valide". The Ottoman Lady: A Social History from
1718 to 1918. ISBN 0-313-24811-7.
5. Jump up^ "Can Muslims Celebrate Mother's Day?". Belief.net. Retrieved August 22, 2016.
6. Jump up^ Peirce, Leslie P., The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman
Empire, Oxford University Press, 1993, ISBN 0-19-508677-5 (paperback)
7. Jump up^ Michie, God Save The Queen at 290
8. Jump up^ Grethe Authén Blom Norsk Historisk Tidskrift Oslo 1981 p. 425
9. Jump up^ Source: Andrew Morton, interviewed by Gay Byrne on The Late Late Show on RTÉ
10. Jump up^ Denis D. Gray (February 4, 2013). "Cambodia mourns as 'King-Father' Sihanouk
cremated". Yahoo News. Retrieved August 22, 2016.