Well we’ve had the monarch awards of England/Great Britain
and Scotland/Great Britain. We’ve also had the consort awards for England/Great
Britain. Now it’s the turn of the Scottish consorts.
Consorts whose children didn’t become monarch:
12 consorts of Scotland had no children become monarch. The
first was Ethelreda of Northumbria the consort of the 6 month King, Duncan II.
The last female consort to not have a child become monarch was Madeleine of
Valois the consort of James V who died within 6 months of her marriage. There
were no monarch heirs for 2 of the 3 male consorts, Francis II of France and
the Earl of Bothwell, both consorts to Mary Queen of Scots.
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| Joan of England the daughter of King John of England and the consort of King Alexander II of Scotland |
Consorts who had more than on monarch/consort as children:
Two consorts have this accolade. Suthen the wife of Duncan I
gave birth to King Malcolm III and King Donald III. Saint Margaret the second
wife of King Malcolm III went one better than her mother in law and had 3
children become monarchs of Scotland in King Edgar, King Alexander I and King
David I.
Consorts who had no children:
In the period 1000 to 1603 Scotland had 30 consorts. Of
these 8 had no children or no surviving children with the monarch. Gruoch the
wife of Macbeth didn’t have any children by him but her son did become King
briefly. David II (1329-1371) was married twice to Joan of the Tower and
Margaret Drummond. He had children by neither of them. The last consort not to
have children by the monarch was King Francis II of France the husband of Mary
Queen of Scots. You could say it was Mary’s third husband the Earl of Bothwell
but she did have twins by him but she suffered a miscarriage.
Consorts to have the most children:
Well the winner is Elizabeth Mure the first wife of King
Robert II. She gave him 10 children but she was never consort as she died
before Robert became King. In second place was St Margaret who gave her husband
King Malcolm III 8 children. If you include all the children a consort had by
all her husbands than Joan Beaufort the consort of King James I wins. She had 8
children with James and 3 with her second husband the Black Knight of Lorne.
Reign length:
The consort who reigned the longest was Joan of the Tower.
She was the consort of King David II and reigned for 33 years, 3 months and 1
day. The shortest reign was James Hepburn, the Earl of Bothwell who was consort
to Mary Queen of Scots for 2 months and 20 days before Mary abdicated.
Age at accession:
The oldest lady to become consort was Arabella Drummond the
wife of King Robert III. She was approximately 40 years old when her husband
ascended the throne. The youngest was Joan of the Tower. She was 7 years and 11
months when she married the 4 year old King David II.
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| Arabella Drummond consort of King Robert III (image courtesy of Franzy89) and Joan of the Tower consort of David II |
Number of Marriages:
Well not surprisingly the winner was a Tudor. Margaret Tudor
was the older sister of King Henry VIII. She married King James IV in 1503 when
she was 14 years old. After his death (1513) she married Archibald Douglas the 6th
Earl of Angus in 1514 and divorced him in 1527. The following year she married Henry
Stewart, 1st Lord Methven who she remained married to until her death in 1541,
although she did want to divorce him but her son wouldn’t let her. So yet again
a Tudor with multiple marriages.
Some other facts:
Of all the consorts 3 had siblings who were also consorts of
European monarchs. Joan of England’s (Alexander II) sister Isabella was the
consort of Emperor Frederick II of the Holy Roman Empire. Margaret Tudor’s
sister Mary was the consort of King Louis XII of France for 3 months before his
death. Finally King Francis II of France consort of Mary Queen of Scots has 2 sisters who became consorts. Elizabeth
of Valois married King Phillip II of Spain after the death of his 2nd
wife Queen Mary of England and Margaret of Valois married the future King Henry
IV of France.
The house of Valois was the family name of one branch of the
French royal family. They provided 2 consorts to the Scottish monarchy. Madeleine
was the consort of King James V and her nephew King Francis II who was consort
to Mary Queen of Scots. They were related to the 2 Valois consorts of England
in Isabella wife of King Richard II and Catherine wife of King Henry V and Owen
Tudor. There common ancestor was King Charles V of France. Catherine and
Isabella where his granddaughters, Madeleine was his 3 times great
granddaughter and Francis was his 4 times great grandson.
In the same vein Joan of England was the paternal aunt of
Margaret of England and the twice great aunt of Joan of the Tower. Margaret of
England was the great Aunt of Joan of the Tower.
There were 3 male consorts to Scottish monarchs and all were
the husbands of Mary Queen of Scots.
10 consorts were the children of European monarchs. 6 were
the daughters of the English monarch, 2 of the Danish monarch and 2 were the
children of the French monarch.
The pointless questions and their answers
The names of the British monarch’s consorts since 1707 are:
George, Caroline, Charlotte, Adelaide, Albert, Alexandria,
Mary, Elizabeth and Philip.
The decade in which a monarch died from 1000 to 2000 were:
1060’s, 1090’s, 1120’s, 1130’s, 1230’s, 1280’s, 1270’s,
1320’s, 1360’s, 1370’s, 1380’s, 1400’s, 1440’s, 1460’s, 1540’s, 1530’s, 1560’s,
1570’s, 1610’s, 1660’s, 1700’s, 1720’s, 1730’s, 1810’s, 1820’s, 1840’s, 1860’s,
1920’s, 1950’s, 2000’s.
The consorts whose children (if they had any some of these
listed didn’t) were never Monarch since 1154 are: Joan of England, Margaret of
England, Yolande of Dreux, Joan of the Tower, Margaret Drummond, Euphemia de
Ross, Madeleine of Valois, King France II of France and James Hepburn Earl of
Bothwell, Catherine of Braganza the wife of Charles II. Mary of Modena the wife
of James VII (II). Prince George of Denmark the husband of Queen Anne. Caroline
of Brunswick the wife of George II. Caroline of Brandenburg the wife of George
IV and finally Adelaide Saxe-Meiningen the wife of William IV.
If you want to read the other blogs in the monarchy awards
you can find them at:
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