Queens of the Victorian Era Trivia Quiz

Answer: Joséphine Bonaparte

Born in 1807, Joséphine was the eldest child of Eugène de Beauharnais, Duke of Leuchtenberg - the son of Joséphine Bonaparte by her first husband, Alexandre de Beauharnais. Her name was chosen by Napoleon himself, who was still married to Joséphine at the time. A well-educated young woman, Joséphine of Leuchtenberg was chosen as a bride for his heir, Oscar (the future Oscar I), by Charles XIV John of Sweden and Norway, who had been a general of Napoleon's army, and wanted to maintain ties with the House of Bonaparte. Oscar and Joséphine married in 1823; the young princess immediately became very popular with the Swedish people, in spite of her Catholic faith, and developed a very affectionate relationship with her father-in-law. The couple had five children, two of whom (Charles and Oscar) would succeed their father on the Swedish throne.

Oscar became King in 1844. During his reign, Joséphine became her husband's trusted advisor on various matters of state. She is believed to have instigated some important social reforms, such as the laws providing equal inheritance to men and women. Joséphine died in 1876, having outlived her husband, three of her sons, her daughter-in-law, and her younger sister Amélie, the wife of Pedro I of Brazil. Amélie's tenure as Empress of Brazil lasted less than two years (1829-1831), and she lived out the rest of her life in Portugal after her husband's abdication and death.

Answer: Spain

Isabella II of Spain was one of the few women who ruled in their own right in 19th-century Europe. Born in 1830, she was the eldest daughter of King Ferdinand VII, and succeeded her father at the age of 3, with her mother, Maria Christina, as a regent. Before his death, Ferdinand had reestablished the old succession law of Spain, which allowed women to rule; however, Ferdinand's brother, Carlos, who would have been his heir under Salic law, disputed his niece's title for seven years, and his heirs and supporters kept up the fight (known by the name of "Carlist wars") well into the 20th century.

Maria Christina's regency marked Spain's transition from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional one; her daughter's reign, however, was characterized by military rebellions, palace intrigues, and popular revolts. Highly unpopular, and involved in a number of scandals, Isabella was nicknamed "The Traditional Queen" and "The Queen of Sad Mischance". In 1868, she was effectively deposed by an insurrection referred to as The Glorious Revolution; Isabella tried to fight back, but her forces were defeated, and she had to leave Spain. In 1870, she abdicated in favour of her son, Alfonso (the future Alfonso XII). After her abdication, she settled in Paris, where she died in 1904.

The first Spanish queen named Isabella was Isabella of Castile, who married Ferdinand of Aragon in 1469, and sponsored Christopher Columbus' expedition to the East Indies.

Answer: Eugénie

María Eugenia Ignacia Agustina de Palafox y Kirkpatrick, known in France as Eugénie de Montijo, was born in 1826 from an aristocratic Spanish family. In 1849, she met Prince Louis Napoleon - who in 1852 would become Emperor with the name Napoleon III - at a reception in Paris; he was immediately taken by the beautiful redhead, and courted her for two years before she accepted his suit. The pair wed in early 1853, but their marriage was not particularly happy. They had only one son, also named Napoleon, whose birth was extremely difficult. and endangered both mother and child. After that, they drifted apart, though Eugénie continued to perform all the public duties that her exalted position involved, often representing her husband abroad. Napoleon, who had an eye for beautiful women, engaged in numerous affairs, which were eventually curtailed by health issues. Eugénie's staunch Catholicism and conservatism did not endear her to the more liberal components of French society, even though she was an advocate of equality for women. However, she became famous as a fashion icon, eagerly adopting new styles (such as the bustle, which replaced the crinoline), and influencing the decorative arts of the 1850s and 1860s.

When Napoleon III was ousted after France's defeat in the Franco-Prussian War (1870), Eugénie and their son followed him into exile in England. The former empress outlived both her husband (who died in 1873) and her son, who was killed in 1879 during the Zulu War in South Africa. She died in 1920, at the age of 94, during a visit to her native Spain.

Answer: Bavaria

Born in 1837, the future Elisabeth of Austria (also known as Sissi) belonged to the Bavarian royal House of Wittelsbach. At the age of 15, she met 23-year-old Emperor Franz Joseph, who was expected by his mother to marry Elisabeth's older sister, Helene. Franz fell in love with Sissi instantly, and insisted on marrying her. The couple were wed in 1854, but their life together was difficult right from the start, especially because of the influence of the Emperor's domineering mother (who was Elisabeth's aunt), and the stifling atmosphere of the Viennese court. Sissi was an intelligent, deeply sensitive young woman, who was sympathetic to liberal political causes, and developed a great love for Hungary and its people. Unfortunately, the strictures of court life, her difficult pregnancies, and her conflict with her mother-in-law affected her mental well-being. An extremely beautiful woman, she was obsessed by her looks, subjecting herself to a rigorous physical regimen in order to maintain her weight and tiny waistline.

Though the Emperor was passionately in love with his wife, he and Sissi grew apart after the birth of their fourth child: she began to travel widely, and he formed a close friendship with actress Katharina Schratt. In 1889, however, Elisabeth's world was shattered by the death of her only son, Archduke Rudolf, who apparently killed himself after murdering his young lover, Mary Vetsera. The Empress never recovered from this tragedy, which was followed by the loss of her mother and two of her sisters. She tried to find solace in traveling, but in September 1898, during a stay in Geneva, an Italian anarchist, Luigi Lucheni, stabbed her to death with a sharpened file. Elisabeth was only 60 years old.

The magnificent portrait of Elisabeth in courtly gala dress was painted by German artist Franz Xaver Winterhalter, famous for his portraits of European aristocracy. The portraits of Isabella II (Q. 2) and Empress Eugénie (Q. 3) are also his work.

Answer: Wilhelm II

Victoria, Princess Royal (known as Vicky), was born 9 months after her parents' wedding. Intelligent and eager for knowledge, she was particularly close to her father, Prince Albert, from whom she inherited her liberal political views. Vicky met her future husband, Frederick, the son of William, Crown Prince of Prussia, when she was 11, and he 19. The two young people took a liking to each other, and regularly corresponded during the years leading to their engagement. In spite of strong opposition from both the Prussian and the English side, Frederick and Vicky were wed in London two years later. Though they had to face all kinds of headwinds throughout their 30-year marriage, the couple remained close, and had eight children together.

Victoria had to deal with her mother's interference, her mother-in-law's unrelenting criticism, the hostility of Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, and the volatile political situation in most of Europe. To make matters worse, the couple's eldest son, Wilhelm - the future Kaiser Wilhelm II - was born with a defective arm, which was a constant cause of worry for Vicky; they also lost one child, Sigismund, in infancy, and another, Waldemar, at 11 years of age.

William I, Frederick's father, became King of Prussia in 1861, and Emperor of Germany in 1871. Sadly, when William passed away in March 1888, at the age of 90, Frederick was already gravely ill with cancer. Vicky was Empress for only 99 days before her husband died in June 1888. Despite her son Wilhelm's hostility, she remained in Germany until the end of her days, forming her own court, and cultivating her interests - which included politics and painting. Vicky died of cancer in 1901, seven months after her mother, and did not see her son drag Germany into the disaster of WWI.

Answer: Mexico

Born in 1840, Charlotte (who later became known as "Carlota" in Spanish) was the only daughter of King Leopold I of Belgium. She was named after her father's first wife, Charlotte of Wales, the only daughter of the future King George IV of the United Kingdom; the infamous King Leopold II was her elder brother. A young woman of delicate beauty, in 1856 Charlotte met Archduke Maximilian of Austria, younger brother of Emperor Franz Joseph I, who was eight years her senior, and fell in love with him. The pair became engaged at the end of the same year, and were wed in Brussels in the summer of 1857. They lived for some time in the beautiful Miramare Castle in Trieste, before Maximilian was approached by Mexican monarchists who asked him to take the throne. In April 1864, the couple sailed to Mexico: however, their imperial adventure was short-lived, undermined by the withdrawal of French aid. In 1866, Charlotte traveled back to Europe, trying to find support for her husband's cause. Her efforts failed: Maximilian was captured by the Mexican Republican forces led by Benito Juárez, and executed on 19 June 1867.

Charlotte loved her husband passionately, though their relationship had been far from idyllic. In fact, Maximilian had been engaged to Maria Amélia, daughter of Pedro I of Brazil (see Q. 1), who had died of tuberculosis, and remained devoted to her memory. Charlotte's fragile mental health had been badly affected by the failure of her mission, and she started suffering from paranoia. Being told of Maximilian's demise, six months after his execution, sent her over the edge. She lived out the rest of her life in her native Belgium, isolated from the rest of the world, and gradually losing what little sanity she had left. The tragic former Empress outlived most of her close relatives, and died in January 1927 at the age of 86.

Answer: the father-in-law of Europe

Born in 1817, Louise of Hesse-Kassel came from a noble German family; however, she grew up in Denmark, where her family had moved when she was three years old. Her mother, Charlotte, was a sister of the Danish king, Christian VIII, who was very close to her. In 1842, Louise married her double second cousin, Prince Christian of Glücksburg, who - like Louise - was German by birth, but had been brought up as a Dane. In 1847, Christian was chosen as heir of Christian VIII's childless son, Frederick VII: Louise, who was the king's closest living relative, renounced her succession rights to her spouse. When Frederick died without issue in 1863, Prince Christian became King Christian XI, the first of the House of Glücksburg.

Unlike so many royal couples, Louise and Christian shared genuine mutual affection, strengthened by the years of succession struggle, and were devoted to their six children. Louise was not interested in state matters: her mission in life became that of arranging important dynastic marriages for each of her children, securing the international status of the newly established Danish royal house. This earned Louise and Christian the sobriquet of "Father-in-Law and Mother-in-Law of Europe". Their second son, George, became King of Greece, while their youngest, Valdemar, married a French princess; their eldest daughter, Alexandra, became Queen of the United Kingdom, while Dagmar (see Q. 8) became Empress of Russia, and Thyra married the Crown Prince of Hanover. Besides her efforts on behalf of her children, Louise was deeply involved in a large number of charitable organizations, and a patron of the arts.

After 35 years as Queen of Denmark, Louise died in 1898 at the age of 81; her husband outlived her by eight years. Margrethe II, Queen of Denmark at the time of writing, is a direct descendant of Christian and Louise, and many European royals (including Queen Elizabeth II) also descend from the pair.

Answer: he was executed

The fourth child of Christian IX of Denmark (see Q. 7), Dagmar was born in 1847. Like her elder sister, Alexandra (who married Edward, Prince of Wales, later Edward VII), she was famous for her beauty and elegance; she was also intelligent and gifted for art and languages, and had a very appealing personality. In 1864, she got engaged to Nicholas ("Nixa"), the eldest son and heir apparent of Russian Emperor Alexander II. Sadly, Nixa died of meningitis the following year, at the age of 22, leaving Dagmar heartbroken. Their shared memories fostered a closeness between Dagmar and Alexander, Nixa's younger brother, now his father's heir, and their relationship was warmly encouraged by the Tsar and his wife, who were fond of the Danish princess.

Dagmar converted to Orthodoxy and took the name of Maria Feodorovna before her wedding to Alexander in 1866. The couple's eldest son, Nicholas (the future Nicholas II), was born in 1868; five more children followed. In 1881, Alexander II was killed by a bomb, and Maria became Empress consort of All the Russias. She was universally loved for her good works, and viewed as a mother to her people. The same, unfortunately, could not be said of her husband, who proved to be a reactionary, autocratic ruler. The pair, however, had grown to love each other deeply, and Maria was devastated by Alexander's early death in 1894.

Maria did not get along with her daughter-in-law, Alexandra, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria, and was concerned about her influence on Nicholas. She was particularly worried about the growing influence of the mystic Rasputin on the imperial family. Unfortunately, Maria was unable to avoid the catastrophe that led to the overthrow of the monarchy and the tragic death of the whole imperial family. When Nicholas and his family were executed by the Bolsheviks in 1918, Maria refused to accept his death. She eventually went back to Denmark, where she died in 1927 at the age of 80 - having outlived her husband, all of her four sons, and most of her siblings.

Answer: pizza

Margherita of Savoy was born in 1851 from a cadet branch of the House of Savoy, which at the time ruled the Kingdom of Sardinia. A handsome, well-educated young woman, in 1868 she married her cousin Umberto, the eldest son of King Victor Emmanuel II, the first king of unified Italy. As was often the case, the marriage was not a success in terms of the couple's personal feelings: Umberto had a long-term mistress, and marital relations between him and his wife probably ceased shortly after the birth of their only child, the future Victor Emmanuel III, in 1869. Umberto and Margherita, however, remained on friendly terms, and had a fruitful working relationship; with her stately appearance, excellent manners, and keen patronage of art andliterature, she became very popular with her subjects - much more so than her husband, who became King of Italy in 1878.

Both Margherita and Umberto were staunchly conservative in their politics: however, while the queen's popularity never abated (also due to her involvement in social and charitable work), the king was deeply disliked by progressive-leaning circles, and hated by anarchists. He survived two assassination attempts, but a third - on 29 July 1900 - claimed his life. As a widow, Margherita was surrounded by sympathy, and remained involved in politics. While opposed to WWI, in the years following the war she came to support Fascism because of her fear of socialism. Margherita of Savoy died in 1926, mourned by millions of people.

According to a legend, the famous pizza Margherita (whose colours echo those of the Italian flag) was created in 1889 by a Neapolitan cook to to honour the Queen. However, other sources report that a pizza with tomato sauce, mozzarella and basil had already existed for at least a century, and that the name "margherita" ("daisy") came from the flower-like arrangement of the mozzarella slices.

Answer: Wilhelmina

The fourth daughter of the Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont (a small German principality in present-day central Germany), Emma was born in 1858; she was a third cousin of Mary of Teck, George V's Queen consort, while her sister, Helena, married Prince Leopold, Queen Victoria's youngest son. At the age of 21, Emma married King William III of the Netherlands, who was 60 - old enough to be her father, or even her grandfather, and a widower. She accepted this arranged union dutifully, and during the engagement took lessons in Dutch language and politics. This unlikely union was very happy: Emma proved to be a positive influence on the King, who was prone to mood swings, and had a larger than life personality. William had three sons from his previous marriage, and had only one daughter, Wilhelmina, with Emma; for an odd twist of fate, however, he outlived all his sons, and it was his 10-year-old daughter who succeeded him when he died in 1890. Emma acted as regent for her daughter until Wilhelmina turned 18 in 1898 - the first woman to rule the Netherlands for over a century.

Emma took her role as regent seriously, and her fair and balanced approach to ruling - in contrast with her husband's autocratic tendencies - endeared her to the Dutch people, setting a great example for her daughter. She retired from the regency as soon as Wilhelmina turned 18, and moved to her own residence when the young queen got married. However, Emma continued to attend public functions with the royal couple, as well as engaging in charity work. She died in 1934, at the age of 75. Wilhelmina would reign for 58 years, abdicating in favour of her only child, Juliana, in 1948; Beatrix (who succeeded her mother) and Irene are two of Juliana's four daughters.