Royal Consorts of the United Kingdom, Great Britain and England

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A royal consort is the spouse of a ruling king or queen. Consorts of monarchs in the United Kingdom and its predecessors have no constitutional status or power but many have significant influence over their husband or wife.

Since 1066, the Kingdom of England, the Kingdom of Great Britain, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland have collectively had forty-two or forty-three royal consorts: thirty-nine female and three or four male. (The status of Lord Guilford Dudley as a consort is debatable as the status of Lady Jane Grey as a Queen of England is also subject to debate.) All female consorts have had the right to and have held the title of Queen Consort. However, male consorts do not automatically have the right to the title of King Consort and instead are usually made peers (ex. Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh). King Phillip, however, was made King Consort upon his marriage to Mary I, and he later became King of Spain in his own right. Also, since 1066 there have been six kings and queens without consorts: William II, Edward V, Edward VI, Elizabeth I, George I (divorced before becoming king) and Edward VIII (married Wallis Simpson after his abdication).

In the case of Mary II, her husband, William III, was made sovereign alongside her and continued to reign even after her death. It was the only such case in British history.

If Charles, Prince of Wales ascends the throne, his wife, Camilla Parker Bowles, will automatically take on the title of Queen Consort unless legislation is passed to the contrary. It has been stated, however, that it is intended that she should be known not as Queen, but as Princess Consort.

[edit] Consorts of the United Kingdom

Picture	Name	Year of Birth	Year of Death	Spouse	Consort dates
House of Windsor
Image:Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh cropped.jpg	HRH The Duke of Edinbrugh	1921	-	HM The Queen	1952 wife's ascension	-
Image:QueenM.JPG	Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon	1900	2002	George VI	1936 husband's ascension	1952 husband's death
	Mary of Teck	1867	1953	George V	1910 husband's ascension	1936 husband's death
House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
	Alexandra of Denmark	1844	1925	Edward VII	1901 husband's ascension	1910 husband's death
House of Hanover
Image:Prince Albert-1842.jpg	Albert, Prince Consort	1819	1861	Queen Victoria	1840 marriage	1861 own death
Image:Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen.JPG	Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen	1792	1849	William IV of the United Kingdom	1830 husband's ascension	1837 husband's death
	Caroline of Brunswick	1768	1821	George IV of the United Kingdom	1820 husband's ascension	1821 own death

[edit] Consorts of Great Britain

Picture	Name	Year of Birth	Year of Death	Spouse
House of Hanover
	Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz	1744	1818	George III of Great Britain
Image:Caroline of Ansbach.jpg	Caroline of Ansbach	1683	1737	George II of Great Britain
House of Stuart
	Prince George of Denmark	1653	1708	Anne of Great Britain

[edit] Consorts of England

Picture	Name	Year of Birth	Year of Death	Spouse
House of Stuart
Image:Mary of Modena detail.JPG	Mary of Modena	1658	1718	James II of England VII of Scotland
	Catherine of Braganza	1638	1705	Charles II of England and Scotland
Image:Sir Peter Lely 001.jpg	Henrietta Maria of France	1669	1609	Charles I of England and Scotland
	Anne of Denmark	1574	1619	James I of England and VI Scotland
House of Tudor
	Philip II of Spain (King of Spain in his own right)	1527	1598	Mary I of England
–	Lord Guilford Dudley (disputed)	1536	1554	Lady Jane Grey (disputed)
Image:Kathparr.jpg	Catherine Parr	1512/1517	1548	Henry VIII of England
	Catherine Howard	1520/1525	1542	Henry VIII of England
Image:AnneCleves.jpg	Anne of Cleves	1515	1557	Henry VIII of England
Image:JaneSeymour.jpg	Jane Seymour	1508/1509	1537	Henry VIII of England
Image:Anne boleyn.jpg	Anne Boleyn	1501/1507	1536	Henry VIII of England
	Catherine of Aragon	1485	1536	Henry VIII of England
Image:Elizabeth of York.JPG	Elizabeth of York	1466	1503	Henry VII of England
House of York
–	Anne Neville	1456	1485	Richard III of England
Image:ElizabethWoodville.JPG	Elizabeth Woodville	1437	1492	Edward IV of England
House of Lancaster
Image:Margaret of Anjou.jpg	Margaret of Anjou	1429	1482	Henry VI of England
	Catherine of Valois	1401	1437	Henry V of England
	Joanna of Navarre	1370	1437	Henry IV of England
House of Plantagenet
–	Isabella of Valois	1387	1410	Richard II of England
–	Anne of Bohemia	1366	1394	Richard II of England
Image:Philippa-of-Hainault sm.jpg	Philippa of Hainault	1314	1369	Edward III of England
–	Isabella of France	1295	1358	Edward II of England
–	Marguerite of France	1282	1317	Edward I of England
–	Eleanor of Castile	1241	1290	Edward I of England
–	Eleanor of Provence	1223	1291	Henry III of England
	Isabella of Angoulême	1187	1246	John of England
–	Berengaria of Navarre	1165/1170	1230	Richard I of England
	Eleanor of Aquitaine	1124	1204	Henry II of England
Normans
–	Matilda of Boulogne	1105	1152	Stephen of England
–	Adeliza of Louvain	1103	1151	Henry I of England
–	Edith of Scotland	1080	1118	Henry I of England
–	Matilda of Flanders	1031	1083	William I of England
Anglo-Saxon and Danes
–	Edith of Wessex	1029	1075	Edward the Confessor

[edit] References

• www.royalty.nu