To Marry A King Trivia Quiz

Answer: Mary of Guise

She is reputed to have refused the offer of Henry VIII by saying "I fear my neck is too small". She was James V's second wife, and the mother of Mary, Queen of Scots.

Answer: Marie Antoinette

Archduchess Marie Antonia was seen as little more than a bargaining chip by her imperially-minded mother, who concentrated on marrying off her children to the highest ranking royals possible. Therefore her education was sorely lacking. Poor Marie was clueless about marriage and sex, as was her naive husband, the future Louis XVI.

Answer: Isabella of France

The daughter of a French king and the sister of three French kings, Isabella married Edward in 1308. He was most likely homosexual, so Isabella's sole duty was that of producing an heir. She returned to France, invaded England with her new lover, seized the throne for her underage son, named herself and her lover as regents, and quite possibly had her husband cruelly murdered. One of the most disastrous royal marriages in history.

Answer: Marguerite of France

Edward was still mourning the death of his beloved queen Eleanor of Castile, but the famed beauty of Marguerite's elder sister Blanche prompted him to seek an alliance with France. The deal for Blanche fell through, but Philip III offered his daughter Marguerite instead. Given their huge age difference, the marriage was a surprisingly happy one.

Answer: Eleanor of Aquitaine

Eleanor had her marriage to Louis VII annulled on the grounds of consanguinity (being too closely related), yet she was related to Henry even more closely. Both Eleanor and Henry were strong-willed, intelligent, and outspoken, so it was inevitable that they would butt heads and end up hating one another. Eleanor was the mother of Richard I and King John.

Answer: Henrietta Maria of France

The marriage of Henrietta-Maria and Charles started out badly, but they eventually grew to adore one another. Unfortunately, the English hated their queen because she was Catholic, and Charles was an inept ruler. Parliament declared war, and Charles was put to death. Henrietta-Maria mourned him until her own death.

Answer: Victoria "Ena" of Battenberg

Victoria Eugenie, daughter of Princess Beatrice of Great Britain, was beautiful and Alfonso, who was searching for a bride, was immediately smitten. His mother objected to the match because Victoria was not of sufficient rank, her father was the product of a morganatic marriage, and she was a carrier of hemophilia.

Her life as Queen consort of Spain started out on a bad note when a bomb was thrown at the royal carriage on their wedding day. It didn't get any better. The people of Spain disliked her, and her marriage was very unhappy. Alfonso should have listened to Mom.

Answer: Marie of Hesse-Darmstadt

Marie was ill-suited to the glitter and pageantry of Russian court life, and was rarely at her husband's side prior to his becoming Tsar in 1855. This brought temptation, and Alexander took mistresses and had illegitimate children. But he always treated Marie very well.

Answer: Adeliza of Brabant

Henry I needed a legitimate male heir, hence his marriage to the beautiful Adeliza. However the 15-year union was childless. Henry I has the distinction of having the most acknowledged illegitimate children of any English king in history (likely between 20 and 25).

After Henry's death, Adeliza spent a short time in a convent in mourning before remarrying, this time to William d'Aubigny, 1st Earl of Arundel. The descendants of this marriage include Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, wives of Henry VIII.

Answer: Marie of Edinburgh

Marie unwillingly married Ferdinand in 1893, and became Queen consort in 1914. Although she came to view her husband and her marriage with "distaste and revulsion", Marie fell in love with Romania and its people, and they adored her in return. Her husband was such a meek, passionless man, it was said by many historians that it was Marie who ruled, not Ferdinand.

Answer: Sophia of Prussia

The daughter of the future Emperor Frederick III and Princess Royal Victoria of Great Britain, Sophia became queen consort of Greece in 1913, and again in 1920. King Constantine abdicated his throne, reclaimed it, then abdicated once again.

Answer: Louise-Marie of France

The daughter of King Louis-Philippe, Louise-Marie had four children before dying of tuberculosis at the age of 38.

Answer: Caroline Augusta of Bavaria

Caroline Augusta married the Crown Prince of Wurttemberg in 1808, but they divorced in 1814 before he became King. Her second marriage in 1816, to Francis I of Austria, made her Empress of Austria, Queen of Bohemia, Queen of Hungary, and Queen of Croatia, Slavonia, and Dalmatia. If she'd been Francis' second wife, rather than his fourth, she would have added Queen of Italy to the list.

Answer: Sophie of Wurttemberg

Sophie became Queen consort of the Netherlands in 1849. She was treated badly by her mother-in-law and aunt, was intellectually superior to her husband, and William had many affairs. The marriage was miserable, and Sophie made it publicly known that she felt her husband was unsuitable to be king.

The couple had three children, but lived separate lives from 1855 onward. Queen Sophie was buried in her wedding gown as per her wishes, because she felt she had stopped living the day she married.

Answer: Catherine Howard

Catherine, whom Henry called a "rose without a thorn", was far from the innocent Henry thought her to be when they married. Catherine may have started out to be loyal to Henry, but it didn't last long. She took a lover, and installed two former lovers as members of her household. The charges brought against Henry's second wife and Catherine's cousin, Anne Boleyn, were trumped up.