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A queen dowager, dowager queen or queen mother (compare: princess dowager, dowager princess or princess mother) is a title or status generally held by the widow of a king. In the case of the widow of an emperor, the title of empress dowager is used. Its full meaning is clear from the two words from which it is composed: queen indicates someone who served as queen consort (i.e. wife of a king), while dowager indicates a woman who holds the title from her deceased husband. (A queen who rules in her own right and not due to marriage to a king is a queen regnant.) A Queen mother is a dowager queen who is the mother of the reigning monarch. Currently there are two queens dowager: Halaevalu Mataʻaho ʻAhomeʻe of Tonga (who is also queen mother) and Lisa Najeeb Halaby (Noor Al'Hussein). Queen Ratna of Nepal was queen dowager and queen mother until the abolition of the Nepalese Monarchy in 2008. == Distinction from queen mother == A queen mother is a particular type of queen dowager who is simultaneously a former queen consort and the mother of the current monarch. Therefore, every queen mother is by definition also a queen dowager. However, not all queens dowager are queens mother; they may have a relation other than mother to the reigning monarch, such as aunt or grandmother. For example, Mary, Queen of Scots, was queen dowager of France after the death of her husband Francis II, to whom she bore no children. Similarly, Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen was queen dowager after her husband William IV was succeeded by his niece Victoria. Not every mother of a reigning monarch is a queen mother or a queen dowager. For example, the mother of Queen Victoria of United Kingdom, Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, was never a queen dowager because her husband, Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent, had never been king. Similarly, whilst being the mothers of monarchs, both Augusta of Saxe-Gotha and Srinagarindra of Thailand were not styled queen dowager because their respective husbands, Frederick, Prince of Wales and Mahidol Adulyadej, Prince of Songkla, were never kings. Instead, Augusta held the title of ”Dowager Princess of Wales” (a precedent was Henry VII of England's mother, Lady Margaret Beaufort, titled "My Lady the King's Mother"); Srinagarindra meanwhile received the designation ”Princess Mother". Finally, it is possible for there to be a queen mother and one or more queens dowager alive at any one time. This situation occurred in the Commonwealth realms in the period between the accession of Queen Elizabeth II on 6 February 1952 and the death of her paternal grandmother on 24 March 1953. For slightly over a year, there were three queens alive: * Queen Elizabeth II, the reigning monarch (Queen regnant). * Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, the widow of the deceased King George VI and the mother of the reigning queen. Queen Elizabeth, the former queen consort, specifically adopted the appellation ''Queen Mother'' to distinguish herself from her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II. She reportedly loathed being referred to as a ''dowager queen''. * Queen Mary, the widow of King George V, the mother of the former king Edward VIII (the then Duke of Windsor) and of the late King George VI. Queen Mary had been the queen mother between the death of her husband in 1936 and before the accession of her granddaughter, Queen Elizabeth II, as the reigning monarch in 1952. After her accession, Queen Mary became Mary, the Queen Dowager. However, she continued to be titled and styled ''Her Majesty Queen Mary''. A queen dowager continues to enjoy the title, style, and precedence of a queen. However, many former queens consort do not formally use the word "dowager" as part of their titles. The Garter King of Arms's proclamation in the United Kingdom of the styles and titles of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother at her funeral on 9 April 2002 illustrates her dual status as a queen dowager and a queen mother: 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Queen dowager」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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