Category: Women in History

1. Almost Queens: Joan of Valois

   Posted on 7:00am Monday 1st Jun 2020

   Most of our Almost Queens have been robbed of their prospective crown by death, either theirs or their husbands. In the case of Blanche of Burgundy, cousin of Margaret of Burgundy, it was divorce because of her adultery that stopped her getting the crown.

   Getting an annulment for a marriage could be quite tricky, especially if a Pope decided not to play along. Pity poor Joan of Valois then, who was not only completely blameless but couldn't even hope to be defended by the Holy Father.

2. Almost Queens: Isabel of Gloucester

   Posted on 6:00am Friday 1st May 2020

   If becoming Queen of England was contingent on marrying King John, would you do it? Isabel of Gloucester didn't really have much choice in the matter, although to be fair at the time there was no suggestion that John would actually become King. It didn't matter in the end either as Isabel never got to be Queen!

3. Almost Queens: Margaret of Burgundy

   Posted on 7:00am Wednesday 1st Apr 2020

   Many princesses have missed out on the throne due to an early death, whether it was their death or that of their spouse. But in the case of Margaret of Burgundy she lost her chance at a crown due to a scandal that rocked the French court. More than that, her cousin Blanche came unexpectedly close to the crown too, and was brought down by the exact same scandal.

4. Almost Queens: Isabella of Parma

   Posted on 7:00am Monday 2nd Mar 2020

   Technically an “Almost Empress” instead of an “Almost Queen”, Isabella of Parma came very close to becoming “Holy Roman Empress” before being struck down by smallpox.

5. Almost Queens: Marie Adelaide of Savoy

   Posted on 7:00am Monday 3rd Feb 2020

   I've mentioned before in this series that France went through a period of multiple “almost queens” across several generations. One of these was Marie Adelaide of Savoy, whose arrival at the French court at the age of ten seemed to signify a fresh new start for an elderly, war-weary court.

6. Almost Queens: Augusta of Saxe-Gotha, Princess of Wales

   Posted on 7:00am Wednesday 1st Jan 2020

   Caroline of Ansbach and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Streilitz are the best known of the Hanoverian Queens. As the wives of, respectively, King George II and King George III, they wore the consorts crown. George I's wife Sophia had been imprisoned for years when he came to the throne, and George IV's wife Caroline of Brunswick was never crowned or recognised by her husband as Queen. William IV's wife Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen is generally forgotten about, possibly because attention tends to focus more on her husband's battles over their niece, the future Queen Victoria.

   But between Caroline and Charlotte should have been another Queen. The untimely death of George III's father, Frederick Prince of Wales, meant that his wife Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha suddenly went from Queen-in-Waiting to Dowager Princess of Wales, and would instead have to watch her daughter-in-law get the coronation she might otherwise have expected for herself.

7. Almost Queens: Margaret Stewart, Dauphine of France

   Posted on 10:40am Thursday 14th Nov 2019

   Princess Margaret Stewart was born at a time when the Scottish court was becoming a potentially useful ally for England’s other enemy – France. As with so many women her politically-necessary marriage ended up being an unhappy one, and in the end didn’t even lead to her gaining a French crown.

8. Almost Queens: Isabel Marshal

   Posted on 6:00am Monday 14th Oct 2019

   The “Almost Kings” blog series showed that on occasion a younger son can end up King due to the unfortunate early death of the eldest. Maybe this was a consideration for Isabel Marshall, but she certainly couldn’t have foreseen missing out on the title “Queen of the Romans”.

9. Almost Queens: Maria Anna Victoria of Bavaria

   Posted on 7:00am Monday 16th Sep 2019

   Maria Josepha of Saxony was not the only “Almost Queen” of France. In fact 17^th century France saw several women who missed out on the French crown due to their early deaths.

10. Almost Queens: Maria Josepha of Saxony

    Posted on 6:00am Wednesday 14th Aug 2019

    At one point the French monarchy went through a period of repeated Dauphin and Dauphine deaths. This led to several instances of the throne skipping a generation or two, and also gave history several “Almost Queens”.