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British queen mothers

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Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon was styled "Queen Mother" during her widowhood.

The title of Queen mother is defined as "a queen dowager who is the mother of the reigning sovereign". The term has been used in English since at least 1560.[1][2]

Definition

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A queen mother is a person satisfying the following criteria:

  • She is the mother of the current monarch.
  • She is a queen dowager, i.e. the widow of a king.

Queen mother does not mean mother of the Queen; it applies whether the current monarch is queen or king.

As a queen dowager, a queen mother assumes the style of "Her Majesty Queen [first name]" upon her husband’s death.

List of Queen Mothers

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The following is a list of women who can be classified as Queen Mother at some point in their lives.

English Queen Mothers (title not used in earlier periods)

House of Wessex

House of Denmark

House of Plantagenet

House of Lancaster

House of York

Scottish Queen Mothers (title not used in earlier periods)

House of Dunkeld

House of Stuart

English and Scottish Queen Mothers (post Union of the Crowns)

House of Stuart

British Queen Mothers

House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, renamed the House of Windsor in 1917

British Queen Grandmothers

House of Windsor

  • 1952–1953 Mary of Teck, paternal grandmother of Elizabeth II; she is the only British queen dowager to achieve the status of a queen grandmother.

References

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  1. ^ "queen mother, n.". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.): "The widow of a king who is also the mother of the reigning monarch. "
  2. ^ Webster's Third New International Dictionary.

Sources

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