queen regnant


   

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Queen regnant

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See also: List of current queens regnant

A queen regnant (plural "queens regnant") is a qualifying reference to a female monarch possessing and exercising all of the monarchical powers of a ruler, in contrast to a "queen consort", who is the wife of a male reigning as monarch and who is without any official powers of state.

In Ancient Egypt, Pacific cultures, and even in historical European countries, as noted below, women regents have been given the title, king or its equivalent, such as pharaoh, when gender is irrelevant to the office. Also the Byzantine Empress Irene called herself basileus (βασιλεύς), 'emperor', rather than basilissa (βασίλισσα), 'empress'. And Jadwiga of Poland was crowned as Rex Poloniae, King of Poland,.

Among the Davidic Monarchs of Judea, there is mentioned a single queen regnant, Athaliah, though the Bible regards her negatively as an usurper. Conversely, the much later Hasmonean Queen Salome Alexandra (Shlomzion) was highly popular.

Technically, a male king also may be a king regnant or a king consort—but this distinction is unusual and, for example, has been used only twice in the history of the British monarchy and its predecessor monarchies. In all current monarchies that allow for a queen to take the throne, the husband of such a queen is not titled king, generally ranking as a prince. The husband of Queen Mary I of England and the first two husbands of Queen Mary I of Scotland were all created kings consort of their wives' realms. The husband of Mary II, Queen of England and Ireland, and Queen of Scots, was named king regnant co-sovereign with her, as William III and II. The latter arrangement was the only occasion of co-sovereignty in Britain—at least officially.

Accession of a regnant occurs as a nation's order of succession permits. Methods of succession to queendoms, kingdoms, tribal chiefships, and such include nomination when the sitting monarch or a council names an heir, primogeniture when the children of a monarch or chief become regents in order of birth from eldest to youngest, and ultimogeniture when the children become regents in the reverse order of birth from youngest to eldest. The scope of succession may be matrilineal, patrilineal, or both; or, rarely, open to general election when necessary. Right of succession by gender may be open to men and women, limited to men only, or limited to women only.

The most typical succession in European monarchies from the Late Middle Ages through most of the twentieth century was male-preference primogeniture; i.e., the order of succession cycled through the sons of the monarch in order of their birth, followed then by the daughters. Historically, many realms forbade succession by women or through a female line in obedience to the Salic law, and some still do. No queen regnant ever ruled France, for example. Only one woman, Maria Theresa ruled the Holy Roman Empire, she held the title Holy Roman Empress first by marriage and was the de facto ruler for forty years. As noted in the list below of widely-known ruling queens, many ruled in European monarchies.

In the waning days of the twentieth century, Sweden, Norway, Belgium, and the Netherlands amended their acts of succession to primogeniture with no preference as to gender. In some cases, the change does not take effect until the generation following the current generations in existence—to avoid dispossessing people who already were in the succession, in a particular position.

In China, Wu Zetian became the Chinese Empress Regnant and established the Zhou Dynasty (also known as Wu Zhou 武周) after dismissing her sons and becoming the Empress Regnant. Although the Chrysanthemum Throne of Japan currently is barred to women, historically, this has not always been the case and eight of the ruling empresses of Japan are listed below.

Contents

[ Partial list of queens regnant

Maria Theresa, Queen regnant of Hungary, Bohemia[1] and the Holy Roman Empress for forty years

Although many ancient ruling queens are omitted and unknown queens of cultures poorly recorded or undocumented upon discovery, such as all of the queens in Africa, Micronesia, Oceania, Polynesia, and such are omitted, the following is a list of some queens who are well-known in popular writings.

[ Asia

[ Middle East

[ Greater Iran

[ Judea

[ East Asia

[ China
Wu Zetian

There has been only one empress regnant documented in Chinese history, Wu Zetian, but there have been many powerful empress consorts or empress dowagers, some of whom effectively ruled, as noted below. Powerful empress consorts or empress dowagers were de facto rulers, but not de jure empress regnants. A concubine who gave birth to a crown prince also could become empress dowager, although her status still was a little lower than an empress dowager who had been the former empress consort.

[ Japan
Empress Kōgyoku
Ranavalona I

[ Korea

[ Mongolia

[ Viet Nam

[ South Asia

[ Southeast Asia

[ Aceh

[ Europe

[ Bohemia

[ Bosnia

[ Denmark

  • Margaret I, Queen of Denmark (ruled 1375–1412), Queen of Norway (ruled 1388–1412), Queen of Sweden (ruled 1389–1412)
  • Margaret II (ruled 1972–present)

[ Hungary[2]

[ Navarra

[ The Netherlands

Queen Wilhelmina of Netherlands

[ Poland

  • Jadwiga of Poland (ruled 1384-1386) - was crowned as, Rex Poloniae, King of Poland, to emphasize that she was monarch in her own right
  • Anna Jagiellon (ruled 1575-1595)

[ Portugal

Queen Maria II of Portugal

[ Russia

[ Spain, Castile, Aragon

Elizabeth of Russia

[ Sweden

[ UK, Commonwealth, England, Great Britain, Scotland

Queen Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom, Empress of India
  • Boudica, queen of the Brythonic Celtic Iceni people of Norfolk in Eastern Britain who, in 61 AD, led a major uprising of the tribes against the occupying forces of the Roman Empire
  • Queen Cordelia
  • Queen Gwendolen
  • Matilda (or Maud) of England (named, but never ruled 1141 because her title was usurped) styled herself as Lady of the English, although Queen of the English was not unknown; she was named heir by her father, Henry I of England, upon securing the loyalty of nobles of the realm, but Count Stephen of Blois contradicted his promise after the king's death and made himself King of England instead; civil war ensued and was ended when the crown was secured to Matilda's (or Maud's) son, Henry II of England, who became the first king of the House of Plantagenet
  • Margaret, the Maid of Norway (heir March 19, 1286 – September 26, 1290) - she was the daughter of Eirik II of Norway and Margaret, daughter of Alexander III, she died during the sea journey to Scotland before being inaugurated
  • Mary I, Queen of Scots (ruled December 14, 1542 – July 24, 1567) - she became queen when she was six days old, was crowned at age five, and promptly engaged to the Dauphin of France - the future Francis II
  • Lady Jane Grey (ruled July 10 – July 19, 1553) – her cousin Edward VI of England appointed her successor by removing his older half-sisters Mary and Elizabeth from the order of succession as illegitimate heirs; this decision had not been approved by Parliament and was open to questions of its legality; Mary was the heir according to the will of their father Henry VIII of England and was elevated to the throne through revolt; nevertheless, without consideration to Celtic queens such as Boudica, Jane is sometimes referred to as England's first queen regnant; she is called The Nine Days Queen because of the brief period of her reign
  • Mary I of England (ruled July 19, 1553 – November 17, 1558) - elevated to the throne in accordance with Henry VIII's will, she is reckoned the first or second queen regnant and subsequent years of her reign as though Jane had never been Queen
Elizabeth I, c. 1563 - the "Hampden" portrait, by Steven van der Meulen

[ Africa

[ Ancient Egypt

[ Indigenous dynasties
Hatshepsut
Nefertiti

[ Ptolemaic dynasties

[ Islamic

[ Ethiopia

Gowri Lakshmi Bayi of TravancoreSource: this wikipedia article, under GFDL.
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