Katherine Parr occupies a special place in royal history. Putting aside her remarkable achievements, and there are many, and her legacy of religious reform and literature, she is also one of those special queens consort. For every ruling dynasty must come to an end which means every royal house has a list of finals. Last king, last heir and last consort. Katherine occupies that place in the dramatic history of the Tudors. Here are her companions on this very regal list.
House of Norman
Matilda of Boulogne was a countess in her own right, a rather important position in the 12th century. She married Stephen of Blois in 1125 and they began establishing their power across northern France and England. However, Matilda could never have dreamed at that moment that her husband would become King of England. He did, however, in 1135 but much of his reign was spent in civil war. Matilda was a mighty force for her husband during his most difficult days, a politician and tactician in her own right. She died in 1152, two years before her husband, who soon after agreed to pass his kingdom to his rival, the future Henry II, on his death.
House of Plantagenet
Isabella of Valois showed her mettle at a young age. Married when she was just six years old to the increasingly unpopular and unstable Richard II, her time as queen consort of England lasted from their wedding in 1396 until Richard's deposition in 1399. His death the following year left her a young and prized widow but Isabella was having no part in the marriage machinations that followed. The cousin who had deposed Richard, Henry IV, tried to secure her as a bride for his own heir, Henry, but Isabella refused. She went home to France in 1401 and in 1406, she married the young Duke of Orleans. Isabella died in 1419, in childbirth, a year before her younger sister married the man she had refused to wed who by now ruled England as Henry V.
House of Lancaster
The short rule of the House of Lancaster produced three queens consort and the final one was its most dramatic. Margaret of Anjou married Henry VI in 1445. He had already been king for 23 years, having inherited the throne before his first birthday. But the tumult of a regency and his own quiet and indecisive character had already taken his reign towards chaos. Margaret would end up heading the fight to keep the House of Lancaster in power as the Wars of the Roses erupted. Ultimately, she would lose. Queen Margaret ended up a prisoner of the Yorkists until her kinsman, King Louis XI, ransomed her. She spent her last years in France, broken and broke, and died there in 1482.
House of York
Anne Neville had no royal title but lots of money and plenty of influence, thanks to her father. Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, is known to history as the kingmaker but he was a queenmaker as well. He married Anne, his younger daughter, to the Lancastrian heir to the throne, Edward, in 1470 as he threw his support behind the red rose after years of allegiance to its rivals, the Yorks. Her husband and her father were killed within weeks of each other and in 1472, Anne married the youngest brother Edward IV, the York king. Her union with Richard, Duke of Gloucester kept her close to power but she became the leading lady of the land in 1483 when her second husband seized power on Edward's death. The reign of Richard III was short and unhappy and his consort, the last York queen, ruled for just a year before dying in 1484.
House of Stuart
Catherine of Braganza endured religious discrimination and private humiliation during her marriage to Charles II but her quiet demeanour hid a steely character and she ended up as a prized political adviser. She wed the Merry Monarch in 1662 and immediately found herself playing second fiddle to his all powerful mistress. Catherine, brought up in semi isolation, was no match for the smart women who seduced her famously passionate husband but the king developed a devotion to her that would see him defend her not only from vicious tongues at court but from the danger that her Catholic faith placed her in as religious division once more stalked England. On her husband's death, in 1685, she remained in her new home until her faith once more placed her in a precarious position. She returned to her native Portugal where she ended up acting as regent for her brother. She died in 1705.
House of Hanover
Adelaide of Saxe-Meingingen was the epitome of the arranged royal bride. Chosen by William, Duke of Clarence when pressure became intense on him to marry and produce a desperately needed heir for the Hanoverians, Adelaide arrived in London in the summer of 1818 and met her future husband at Grillon's Hotel. She wed him a week later and set about bringing his fun loving reputation into line. The couple enjoyed a happy marriage but sadly lost all their children. Adelaide became a doting aunt to her husband's niece, Victoria, and remained a confidante when she ascended the throne in 1837. Queen Adelaide died in 1849.
House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha
Queen Alexandra held the title of consort from 1901 until 1910 when her husband, Edward VII, finally took the throne and became the first king of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. The couple had married in 1863 and spend almost four decades as Prince and Princess of Wales. Much of that time had seen Alexandra put up with her husband's notorious infidelities but she remained loyal to him and was a popular princess and queen. After his death, in 1910, she was a great support to her son who became King George V and who changed the dynasty's name to Windsor during the darkest days of World War Two. Alexandra died in 1925, a year before the birth of the great granddaughter who would be given her name as a middle name and who would go on to be the longest reigning monarch in British history, Elizabeth II.
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