2006-11-20 07:48:32 · 25 answers · asked by curious cat 1 in Society & Culture ➔ Royalty
The title Queen Mother is a title reserved for a widowed Queen consort whose son/daughter from that union is the reigning monarch.
The wife of a king is a queen consort. The widow of a king is a queen dowager (or dowager queen). If the dowager queen is the mother of the next monarch, she is also the queen mother, in those countries that use the tradition.
Where a king was married more than once and a previous wife is still living, only the most recent wife is Queen Dowager (and only if she is still married to him at his death); any others are simply styled "Queen [Personal Name]." If one of the other queens is the mother of the reigning monarch, that person is not normally titled Queen Mother because she is not Queen Dowager - but there may be circumstances to allow a subjective exception.
For example, Victoria, Duchess of Kent, reputedly thought she was Queen Mother when her daughter acceeded to the throne as Queen Victoria. But the Duke of Kent had never been king, so she had never been queen - thus, she was not Queen Mother but she was the Queen's mother. Princess Elena of Romania (see below) was an exception to this rule.
Likewise, Princess Muna al-Hussein (the former Antoinette Avril Gardiner, b. 1941, England), as mother of King Abdullah II of Jordan is the King's mother - but she is not Queen Mother, because she was not given the title Queen while she was married to King Hussein. (She was his second wife.)
There is no masculine equivalent to the term. If the Prince Consort had survived Queen Victoria, instead of the other way around, he would not have become "King Father" or even "Prince Father" to Edward VII (and he certainly would not have been 'Queen Mother').
The grandmother, great-grandmother, etc., of a reigning monarch who was Queen Mother in reference to an earlier monarch in the same line is a "Queen Mother Dowager."
2006-11-20 07:50:53 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 0⤋
Yes. A Queen Consort is still a kind of queen. Her title was Queen:
"[George VI] and Elizabeth were crowned King George VI and Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Emperor and Empress of India (until 1947) on 12 May 1937." (from wikipedia).
After her husband's death, her title was "Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother". Until her death in 2002, the UK had two queens (but only one sovereign).
2006-11-20 08:09:55 · answer #2 · answered by keith 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Contrary to an awful lot of answers, your question asked if The late Queen Mother ever held the TITLE of Queen. The answer, obvious to a moron is yes, there is a clue in the title : Her Majesty QUEEN Elizabeth (then later) Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother. No where in your question do you ask if Queen Elizabeth, Queen Consort of King George VI was ever a monarch!
There was one splendid answer regarding the title Queen Mother and Queen Dowager. My favourite Royal of all time, the present Queen's Grandmother, Queen Mary, lived to see Queen Victoria reign (Her Grandmother) Edward VII (Her Father in law) George V (Her Husband) Edward VIII (Her eldest Son) George VI (her next elder Son) and Her Granddaughter, Queen Elizabeth II .
Queen Mary, who was by right and decree Queen Consort, later became, Queen Mother to 2 sons, and Dowager Queen Mother to Her Granddaughter. However anyone who knows anything about Queen Mary would know that as She didn't like the titles,no one dared to use them!
2006-11-20 08:05:04 · answer #3 · answered by Raymo 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The Idiot at the top (Jones) should be shot!
The Queen mother held the Title of The Queen from 1936 to 1952, She became know as Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother after her daughter (Princess Elizabeth) Became Queen.
I have no idea where jones got their iformation, but they really do need to go back to school.
2006-11-20 23:07:03 · answer #4 · answered by djgunn16 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, she was the queen but as Queen Consort...pretty confusing really...
Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (Elizabeth Angela Marguerite; 4 August 1900 – 30 March 2002) was the Queen Consort of King George VI from 1936 until his death in 1952. After her husband's death, she was known as Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother, to avoid confusion with her eldest daughter, Queen Elizabeth II. Before her husband ascended the throne, from 1923 to 1936, she was known as the Duchess of York.
Elizabeth was the last Queen of Ireland and Empress of India. As Queen Consort, Elizabeth was famous for her role in providing moral support to the British public during World War II, so much so that Adolf Hitler described her as "the most dangerous woman in Europe."[1] In her later years, she was a consistently popular member of the British Royal Family, when other members of the family were suffering from low levels of public approval.
2006-11-20 09:54:09 · answer #5 · answered by sarch_uk 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, she was the Queen during the reign of her husband King George VI. When he died Elizabeth became Queen by the laws (rules) of succession and the king's wife became the Queen mother.
2006-11-20 09:40:30 · answer #6 · answered by Jamie 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Most definitely. When the Duke of York became King George VI, she became his Queen Consort.
After he died, she still was Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother; her daughter is Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
She did not give "interviews"; not considered appropriate for one who had been "Anointed" in the Coronation Service when Their Majesties were Crowned.
When King George VI died, for a few months there were THREE Queens in the UK: HM Queen Mary, HM Queen Elizabeth the Queen Monther, and HM Queen Elizabeth II
2006-11-20 08:24:02 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Whilst she was Queen Consort, she was addressed as Her majesty Queen Elizabeth, Queen Consort, later on she became Queen Elizabeth, Queen Mother
2006-11-20 07:58:25 · answer #8 · answered by ? 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
She was married to the Kings younger brother, he gave up the throne to marry an American divorcee(Wallis Simpson), and so as he was childless at the time, the throne passed onto his brother, the queen mothers husband. She became queen consort(that's someone who marries royalty as oppose to being born it, and the reason out current queens husband isn't a king, just a prince) but to you and me, really there's not a huge difference. After her husbands death, the throne then passed down to their eldest child, who is Queen Elizabeth the second, who rules now.
The title Queen mother was invented for her, there hadn't been one before.
2006-11-20 07:55:30 · answer #9 · answered by CHARISMA 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
She was Queen Consort until her husband died. When he passed away and her daughter (Elizabeth II) became Queen, she became Queen Mother.
2006-11-20 10:51:21 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋