The Women Who Would Be Queen Trivia Quiz

Answer: Matilda, or Maude

Matilda, also known as Maude, was a twelfth-century royal who led a fascinating and eventful life. The daughter of Henry I of England and the wife of the Holy Roman Emperor Henry V, she was a Princess and an Empress but never wore the crown of England.

When her brother William drowned in the White Ship, Matilda was named heiress to the throne by her father. The barons swore loyalty to her but switched sides after the King died; they were not ready to accept a female ruler...especially one as strong-minded as Matilda! The clergy, on the other hand, declared her to be "the Lady of England" (the only one to ever hold this title).

After many dramatic adventures that included dashing out of a tower into the snow camouflaged in a white cloak, and a terrible civil war, Matilda called it a day on condition that Stephen named her son, who became Henry II, as his heir. If she wasn't going to be Queen, she was determined to be Queen Mother!

Answer: Eleanor Talbot Butler

Since betrothal was almost as binding as marriage at the time, the King's engagement status (or former engagement status) arguably affected the royal succession. By rights, according to supporters of Richard III, Elizabeth of York and her brothers (otherwise known as the Princes in the Tower) were born out of wedlock because of Edward's supposed betrothal to the widowed Eleanor. Richard's claim led to many colorful events in late fifteenth-century English history, including the mysterious disappearance of the princes, and the Battle of Bosworth Field.

This makes Eleanor's significance to history greater than she would ever realize. Eleanor died in her early thirties and was buried at a convent which she had helped to support.

Answer: Alais of France

Alais had an interesting relationship to the royal family of England. Her father, Louis VII of France, has been the first husband of England's Queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine. Alais was intended for Eleanor's son Richard, but this didn't happen for a number of reasons.

Not the least of these is said to have been Alais' relationship with Richard's father, Henry II! Richard married Berengaria of Navarre, and Alais eventually landed up with the Count of Ponthieu. Alais is portrayed as a character in "The Lion in Winter," a play (there are also at least two terrific film versions) which deals with the story of the marriage of Eleanor and Henry.

Answer: Eleanor of Brittany

For rulers of a country that wouldn't have a ruling queen for another 400 years, Kings John and Henry III of England went to a lot of trouble to keep "The Pearl of Brittany" out of the way so she couldn't inherit the throne! Under first her uncle John and then his son Henry, Eleanor spent nearly 40 years under house arrest.

This makes her the longest-imprisoned member of English royalty ever. Eleanor's confinement (in various castles over time) was not too restrictive: she got to walk and ride, wore elegant clothing, received money and expensive gifts from the Crown, and had a household of servants.

But she was forbidden to marry or contend for the throne. When she died in her late fifties, she had taken vows as a nun. Eleanor appears as a character in the historical novel "Below the Salt."

Answer: Catherine of Aragon

Poor Catherine! The daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Aragon and Castile (you know, the folks who bankrolled Christopher Columbus and his crew) came to England as a teenager in 1501 to marry Prince Arthur, the son of Henry VII and his Queen Consort Elizabeth of York. Arthur died after five months, and seven years later Catherine married his younger brother Henry...who was now the one-day-to-be-notorious Henry VIII.

They were considered to be a beautiful couple, and it is said that Henry cared for Catherine deeply.

But many years and only one surviving child later (that would be the future Queen Mary I) Henry ditched Catherine for her lady-in-waiting Anne Boleyn and informed the world that Catherine was simply a widowed princess...a marriage to his brother's wife couldn't possibly be legal, he had suddenly realized! Catherine was buried as a Princess Dowager at Peterborough Cathedral, but the tomb now reads "Katharine Queen of England".

Answer: Jane Seymour

When Henry determined to marry Jane Seymour, he was still married to wife #2, Anne Boleyn. This was ironic because Henry had divorced his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, to marry Anne---and, in the process, had broken away from the Church of Rome and established the Church of England. Still without a male heir and tired of Anne's temper, Henry turned to the calmer and more diplomatic Jane (who served as lady-in-waiting to both Queens). Eleven days after having Anne beheaded, Henry married Jane, who gave birth to the Prince who would become Edward VI. Complications after the birth caused Jane's death a few days later.

Henry died ten years and three wives later, but was, at his own insistence, buried next to Jane. Although Catherine and Anne had splendid coronations--Catherine had been crowned along with Henry--Jane's ceremony never took place.

Answer: Lady Jane Grey

When Edward VI of England was dying, he disregarded the order of succession laid down by his father, Henry VIII. Mary, daughter of Henry and Catherine of Aragon, had been next in line for the throne after Edward. But Edward wasn't having any of that--he was a devout Protestant, and he knew that Mary couldn't wait to return England to Roman Catholicism. So he named his cousin, Lady Jane Grey, as his heir...with a little encouragement from Jane's branch of the family. Jane was proclaimed Queen but her supporters soon realized they didn't stand a chance against Mary's troops. Jane, an academically-minded and gentle girl, was only too happy to relinquish the throne, and Mary planned to pardon Jane.

But it was too late; politics prevailed. Jane and her husband, Guildford Dudley, were both beheaded (she at the Tower of London, he on Tower Green) on February 12, 1554. Jane had been Queen for only matter of days--nine, according to most historians.

Answer: Elizabeth I

Mary Queen of Scots was the daughter of James V of Scotland and Mary of Guise. Her grandmother was Henry VIII's eldest sister, Margaret. That made Elizabeth I of England Mary's cousin, and according to many Mary should have succeeded Elizabeth's half-sister, Mary I of England, to the throne.

The supporters of Mary Queen of Scots felt that Henry's marriage to Anne Boleyn was not valid, which would make Elizabeth illegitimate. When Mary fled to England to escape charges of having murdered her second husband, Elizabeth gave her sanctuary that was actually imprisonment. Elizabeth, who did not want to execute her cousin, finally gave in to pressure from her councillors after evidence was found that Mary was plotting for the throne; Mary was beheaded at Fotheringay Castle on February 8, 1587. Mary's son became James VI and I (of Scotland and England).

Although the two women are often portrayed in literature as having had long, agonizing conversations, Elizabeth of England and Mary Queen of Scots never actually met.

Answer: Martha Washington

There is some dispute as to how widespread this idea was, but Washington received letters with the suggestion of kingship from prominent military men who had fought in the American Revolution. Many historians believe that the army would have rallied behind him to ascend a new throne and assume a modern, moderated type of monarchy with checks and balances in place.

However, Washington responded that he hadn't fought George III to become George I, and became the new country's President instead. It's highly unlikely that Martha ever thought for a moment that she was going to wear a crown.

Answer: Wallis Simpson

England in the 1930s was part of a rapidly-changing world, with new technology and social standards and with many of the traditional ways of life dying out. But the acceptance of a divorcee as Queen, even a Queen Consort, was still not a possibility. Bessie Wallis "Wallis" Simpson captured the heart of King Edward VIII of England, who announced that he would step down from his throne to marry Wallis because he could not do it without the support of, as he said in his abdication speech, "the woman I love." Edward and Wallis became the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.