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A 'Queen Dowager' or 'Dowager Queen' (AKA
Princess Dowager,
Dowager Princess, or
Princess Mother) is a title or status generally held by the widow of a deceased king. Its full meaning is clear from the two words from which it is composed: queen indicates someone who served as
queen consort (i.e. wife of a king), while
dowager indicates a widow who holds the title from her deceased husband.
A
Queen Mother is a particular type of queen dowager who is simultaneously a former queen consort ''and'' the mother of the current monarch.
1 Therefore, every queen mother is by definition also a queen dowager. However, not all queen dowagers are queen mothers (i.e., the mothers of the reigning monarch). For example, a queen dowager may be the widow of the older brother of the reigning monarch.
Not every mother of a reigning monarch is a queen mother or a queen dowager. For example, the mother of
Queen Victoria of Great Britain, the
Duchess of Kent, was never a queen dowager because her late husband,
the Duke of Kent, had never been king. Similarly, the mother of King
George III of the United Kingdom, the former Princess
Augusta of Saxe-Gotha, was not a queen dowager because her husband,
Frederick, Prince of Wales, was never king. Instead, she held the title of Dowager Princess of Wales.
Finally, it is entirely possible for there to be a queen mother and one or more queen dowagers alive at any one time. This situation occurred in the
United Kingdom in the period between the ascension of
Queen Elizabeth II on
6 February 1952 and the death of her paternal grandmother on
24 March 1953. For slightly over a year, there were three queens in Great Britain:
★ Queen Elizabeth II, the reigning monarch.
★
Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, the widow of the recently 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".
★
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 between the death of her husband in 1936 and the ascension of her granddaughter in 1952. However, she continued to be titled and styled "Her Majesty Queen Mary."
A queen dowager continues to enjoy the title,
style, and
precedence of a queen consort. However, many former queen consorts do not formally use the word "dowager" as part of their titles.
==
British Queen Dowagers==
The article on
English and British Queen Mothers provides a list of former British queen consorts who became queen mothers. However, there were several former queen consorts 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:
★
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 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 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 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 and death in 1483.
★
Anne of Cleves survived her marriage to
Henry VIII until her death 16 July 1557, but since her marriage had been annulled 9 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,
Princess Mary and
Princess Elizabeth.
2 Remarried to
Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley 4 April 1547.
★
Henrietta Maria of France 30 January 1649—10 September 1669, wife of
Charles I of England and ''queen mother'' to
Charles II of England.
★
Catherine of Braganza 6 February 1685 - 30 November 1705, wife of
Charles II of England.
★
Mary of Modena 16 September 1701—7 May 1718, wife of
James II of England; ceased to be Queen consort with his deposition on 12 February 1689.
★
Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen 20 June 1837—2 December 1849, wife of
William IV of the United Kingdom.
★
Alexandra of Denmark 6 May 1910—20 November 1925, wife of
Edward VII of the United Kingdom, ''queen mother'' to
George V of the United Kingdom.
★
Mary of Teck 20 January 1936—24 March 1953, wife of
George V of the United Kingdom, ''queen mother'' to
Edward VIII and
George VI of the United Kingdom until the latter's death 6 February 1952.
★ Lady
Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon 6 February 1952—30 March 2002, wife of
George VI of the United Kingdom and ''queen mother'' to
Queen Elizabeth II.
Other
Note that in some of the countries mentioned below it is unusual to indicate a former queen-consort as a dowager.
Hawaii
Dowager Queen Ka'ahumanu, favored wife of King Kamehameha
Spain
Maria Anna of Neuburg (
28 October,
1667–
16 July,
1740), second wife and widow of King
Charles II of Spain and daughter of
Philipp Wilhelm, Elector Palatine.
Louise Elisabeth of Orléans (
9 December,
1709–
16 June,
1742), wife of King
Louis of Spain and daughter of
Philippe II, Duke of Orléans.
Germany
Charlotte, Princess Royal of Great Britain and Ireland (
29 September 1765 -
5 October 1828), second wife and widow of King
Frederick I of Württemberg and stepmother of King
William I of Württemberg.
Marie, Duchess in Bavaria (
27 January 1805 -
13 September 1877), second wife and widow of King
Frederick Augustus II of Saxony and the sister-in-law to King
Johan of Saxony.
Belgium
In Belgium Dowager (or in French "Douairière") is not a usual term to indicate a queen-consort that survived her husband.
Elizabeth of Belgium was not referred to as "Dowager Queen", although she survived her husband for many years. Neither is the term usual for
Fabiola of Belgium after the death of her husband
Baudouin.
Jordan
Lisa Najeeb Halaby (Noor Al'Hussein) (born
23 August 1951), the fourth wife and widow of
King Hussein of Jordan and the stepmother of the current king,
Abdullah II.
Trivia
★ In the fictional chick lit book series ''The Princess Diaries'', the character Princess Clarisse Marie Grimaldi Renaldo is the dowager princess of the principality of
Genovia. In the film versions, where Genovia is portrayed as a monarchy, Clarisse is portrayed as Queen, or Dowager Queen.
Notes
1 The Garter King of Arms proclamation 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."
2 Catherine Parr continued to use the title Queen Dowager even after her remarriage to
Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley, the younger brother of the late
Jane Seymour, Henry VIII's third wife.
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