Queen mother
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/* Recent British Queen mothers */
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'''Queen mother''' is a title or position reserved for a widowed [[queen consort]] (a ''[[queen dowager]]'') whose son or daughter from that marriage is the reigning monarch. <ref>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.</ref> The term has been used in England since at least 1577.<ref>O.E.D.</ref> The title arises in nations governed by a [[royal]] (inherited) [[monarchy]], commonly in Europe, but also mentioned even in the Bible, as in 1 Kings 15:13.
A queen as bride of the king has a royal position of great importance, but does not normally have any rights to succeed him to rule as monarch after the king's death.
The queen's eldest son would normally be crowned as successor upon the king's death, often leaving the new king's mother still alive, but no longer holding any official position. The new king, of course, might already be married, or marry subsequently, and would have his own queen.
Therefore, the title of "queen mother" identifies the widow of the deceased former king, and mother of the currently reigning king or queen. The title distinguishes the queen mother from the current queen, who is the wife of the currently reigning king. It also distinguishes such a person from a mother of the monarch who was not previously queen. For example, [[Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld|Victoria, the Duchess of Kent and Strathearn]] was "the Queen's mother" when [[Victoria of the United Kingdom|her daughter]] became queen but not "queen mother".
Another type of queen mother is produced when a queen regnant abdicates in favour of her [[heir presumptive]]. [[Queen Juliana of the Netherlands]] is an example: after her abdication she was officially styled as Her Majesty Juliana, Queen Mother of the Netherlands, but she wished to be known as HRH Princess Juliana of the Netherlands.
As the king's mother, the Queen Mother is typically supported throughout her remaining years and given honour as a beloved relative, but had no official position or power and was expected to carefully abstain from any involvement in governance or politics.
==Recent British Queen mothers==
The following queens became queen mothers, though not all chose to use that style.
* Queen [[Alexandra of Denmark|Alexandra]] ([[1844]]–[[1925]]) — widow of [[Edward VII of the United Kingdom|Edward VII]] and mother of [[George V of the United Kingdom|George V]].
* Queen [[Mary of Teck|Mary]] ([[1867]]–[[1953]]) — widow of George V and mother of kings Edward VIII and George VI. Queen Mary never used the title ''Queen Mother'', 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, and when her granddaughter acceded to the throne as [[Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom|Elizabeth II]] in [[1952]], she became dowager queen mother{{Fact|date=October 2007}}<!-- how would she add dowager if she was not widowed again and was not the widow of a "king father" or whatever? Makes no sense... -->.
* Queen [[Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon|Elizabeth, the Queen Mother]] ([[1900]]–[[2002]]) — the widow of George VI and mother of Queen Elizabeth II. Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother was so enormously popular she was often referred to as ''the Queen Mum'', and the term "Queen Mother" remains associated with her after her death.
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== Other Notable Queen Mothers in History==
The title ''queen mother'' has been widely used. Other well-known queen mothers include:
* [[Blanche of Castile]] — Queen mother of [[France]] ([[1226]]–[[1252]])
* [[Katarina Kosača-Kotromanić]] - Queen mother of [[Bosnia and Herzegovina|Bosnia]] ([[1463]]–[[1478]])
* [[Bona Sforza]] - Queen mother of [[Kingdom of Poland (1385–1569)|Poland]]-[[Grand Duchy of Lithuania|Lithuania]] ([[1548]]– [[1557]])
* [[Catherine de' Medici]] — Queen mother of France ([[1559]]–[[1589]])
* [[Maria of Medici]] — Queen mother of France ([[1610]]–[[1642]])
* [[Anne of Austria]] - Queen mother of France ([[1643]]–[[1666]])
* [[Margherita of Savoy|Margaret of Savoy]] — Queen mother of [[Italy]] ([[1900]]–[[1926]])
* [[Maria Christina of Austria]] — Queen mother of [[Spain]] ([[1906]]–[[1929]])
* [[Ingrid of Sweden]] — Queen mother of [[Denmark]] ([[1972]]–[[2000]])
==Exceptional cases==
* [[Elena of Greece]] — wife, from [[1921]]–[[1928]], of the future [[Charles II of Romania|Carol II of Romania]], and mother of King [[Michael of Romania]]. In circumstances that read like a soap opera, Michael first ruled from [[1927]]–[[1930]], ''before'' his father was king (and again after his father abdicated), and gave his mother the title. Thus, she became queen mother without having been queen. She subsequently divorced playboy Carol in 1928, before he became king in 1930.
* Similarly, Maharani [[Gayatri Devi]] of [[Jaipur]] was the third wife of her husband, the monarch, but not the mother of his successor, a son by the king's first wife. She however has been accorded the title of Rajmata, or queen mother anyway.
* The [[Valide Sultan]], the mother of an Ottoman Sultan, is sometimes referred to as queen mother.
==Erroneous Usage of the Title==
* [[Queen Noor of Jordan]] is sometimes mistakenly referred to as the queen mother of Jordan. But while she is the widow of [[King Hussein]] and was his fourth wife, the current king, [[Abdullah II of Jordan|Abdullah II]], is not her son; he's her stepson. His mother is Princess Muna al-Hussein.
==King Mother==
[[Diana, Princess of Wales]] reportedly once suggested to journalist [[Andrew Morton (writer)|Andrew Morton]] (author of ''Diana: Her True Story'') that when her son, [[Prince William of Wales]] became king, she would be known as King Mother.<ref>''Source'': Andrew Morton, interviewed by [[Gay Byrne]] on [[the Late Late Show]] on [[Radio Telefís Éireann|RTÉ]]</ref>. 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.
However, of note, and possibly Diana's basis for the idea, is the style, held by [[Lady Margaret Beaufort]] during her son [[Henry VII of England|Henry VII's]] reign, ''My Lady The King's Mother''.
== References ==
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[[Category:Queens consort|*]]
[[Category:Queen mothers|*]]
[[Category:Royal titles]]
[[Category:Queens| ]]
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