The Not-So-Wicked Stepmother

Today, stepmothers have become an ordinary part of many children’s lives. Heck, some people even end up with more than one. This was also the case for many royal children throughout history—particularly royal daughters. You see, when royal sons predeceased dear old dad, it was up to the aging king to find a young wife.

So, here you are a princess and in comes the new queen, who is probably about your age. This isn’t always the best formula for a harmonious family life. You don’t have to be a great historian or a psychiatrist to deduce that Henry VIII’s daughter, Mary, probably had little reason to love Anne Boleyn. After all, seeing your own mother cast aside and being declared illegitimate yourself so papa can try again with one of your mother’s maids has a way of cramping your style. The latent causes of “Bloody Mary’s” bloodiness may have started with this catastrophic second marriage.

Nevertheless, one royal stepmother did fare very well with her tempestuous stepdaughter. King Henry I was a melancholy old man of 52 when his friends persuaded him to marry again. His first wife had died a few years earlier and, Henry probably could have cared less. She had given him a couple of robust sons, William and Richard, to be the heir and a spare. However, in November 1120, Henry and the family (including several illegitimate children) set out for a little jaunt to Normandy. But Prince William, who could give the current Prince Harry a run for his money, decided to party longer on the English coast with his brother and one of his sisters and their friends. Henry’s boat rowed away as the youngsters enjoyed a few too many. By the time they finally set out, the helmsman and all the oarsmen were completely wasted. The boat struck a huge rock often covered by tidal floods and all but a lowly butcher was killed.

King Henry was distraught. His only surviving legitimate child, Matilda, not only was a girl, but was far away in Germany, the wife of the German emperor. So, the saddened old man chose to try for another heir, and promptly married the teenaged daughter of the Count of Louvain. Adela (sometimes called Adelicia or Adeliza) was considered gentle and loving and very beautiful. One of her illegitimate stepsons wrote “no maid as fair as she was seen on middle earth,” but that’s a Freudian issue we won’t get into here.

Despite being young and hot, Adela gave the king no children of any kind, male or female. He had several more illegitimate children and she had seven kids by her second husband after his death, but the stork never arrived at Adela and Henry’s castle. A few years later, Henry had a bit of luck; the German emperor had died without fathering any kids with his hot, young bride either. Henry’s daughter, 23-year-old Empress Matilda came home to England and found Queen Adela well established in her mother’s place. Evidently though, Adela’s winning ways impressed the usually proud Matilda and the two became friends. In fact, after Henry named Matilda his heir and insisted that she marry the too-short, very uncouth 14-year-old Geoffrey of Anjou, it was to Adela’s house that she fled.

Adela let Matilda stay secluded with them for many weeks while she protested the marriage. Why should she, an empress, marry a distasteful little count? King Henry won out in the end, however, and the marriage took place.

Years later, Adela was a little better at protecting her stepdaughter from a disagreeable king. After Henry died, his nephew Stephen usurped Matilda’s place as heir. Within a couple of years, Matilda and her illegitimate brother (the same one who thought Adela was a cutie) decided to raise an army and take the throne away from their cousin. The two of them arrived from the Continent and hurried to their stepmother’s house, Arundel Castle—where strangely enough she had already produced two sons for her second husband. Stephen got wind of their location and marched on the castle with a large force. Matilda and Robert had not thought to bring many men with them and the castle had a rather small entourage of its own. Adela, who until now had not taken a side against the new king, decided to take a stand. While Robert fled out a back door, Adela told Stephen she had no intention of handing over her stepdaughter.

Stephen, was persuaded by the pretty, thirty-something former queen and agreed to do the chivalric thing. He granted safe passage for Matilda, gave a jaunty wave to his lovely little aunt and rode away. After all, he thought he had more to fear from Robert than from a woman. Matilda, however, had other ideas. (Read my post about Matilda, Royal Escape Artist.) This was the start of civil war that lasted 14 years, ending only when Stephen agreed to make Matilda’s son, Henry, his heir. If Adela had not stood up to Stephen, the war might have been nipped in the bud and Stephen’s son, Eustace, might have become king rather than the energetic Henry II.

So, now we see what a good stepmother can do for a kingdom.

Always a Monarch, Never a Mother

Many monarchs have not had children or have had their children predecease them. Since our focus here is royal ladies, I thought we would take a look at "childless" reigning queens and empresses. They may just outnumber the ones with children. For instance, in England, there have been six Queens regnant (seven if you count Lady Jane Grey), but only Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth II have produced their own heirs. Both Mary I and Mary II* were succeeded by their sisters who were each succeeded by distant cousins.

Centuries before the English and Scottish thrones were united, there was a time when a little girl named Margaret of Norway was set to become Queen of Scotland following the death of her maternal grandfather, but her succession was contested. When she died at age seven on the voyage to Scotland, clearly without children of her own, the little kingdom was embroiled in a succession war. Had Margaret lived, King Edward I of England, who was hammering the Scots, might have married her to the Prince of Wales and united the thrones 300 years sooner. Instead, the union took place after the first Queen Elizabeth executed her cousin and presumptive heir Mary Queen of Scots for treason and left the English throne to Mary's son King James V of Scotland. As for Mary, who had inherited the Scottish throne when she was six days old, her mismanagement and personal scandals forced her from the throne when James was still a baby.

In Russia, Peter the Great and his immediate heirs were not very good at keeping boys alive--often because they killed them. So, the throne bounced about somewhat haphazardly. Peter was followed on the throne by his widow, then his son, then his niece, then his niece's niece's son, then his daughter. Refusing to marry officially, his daughter Empress Elizabeth adopted her sister's son as her heir. She married him off to a minor German princess who was re-christened as Catherine, but the imperial couple had no children after nine years of marriage. So, some speculate, Elizabeth allowed/encouraged Catherine to find a new stud, which was resulted in the birth of Grand Duke Paul. After Elizabeth's death, Catherine launched a coup d'état to seize the throne for herself. She was ultimately followed by her son Paul, who may or may not have actually been a Romanov.

Margrethe I

In Scandinavia, 14th century Queen Margrethe I served as regent for her only son Olaf II, but when he died at 17, she was invested with the power herself and with her husband, she united the thrones of Denmark, Sweden and Norway. She selected her great-nephew Eric of Pomerania as her heir. Later, the cross-dressing Queen Christina of Sweden refused to marry. She eventually abdicated in favor of a cousin, converted to Catholicism and moved to Italy, where she apparently had a rollicking good time. A few generations after that, Queen Ulrika Eleonora succeeded her brother to co-reign with her husband Frederick I, who continued to rule without her after her death and was followed by their son. 

Wilhelmina and Juliana

On the Iberian Peninsula, the various reigning Spanish and Portuguese queens were all dynastically successful although their male counterparts did not always manage to leave legitimate children. Perhaps one of the most interesting stories of fertile female monarchs is in The Netherlands, where three generations of queens reigned in a row (See my post End of the Queen Streak). In 1890, nine-year-old Wilhelmina succeeded her elderly father. She had two half-brothers who were supposed to become king, instead but they both died unmarried in their thirties. Wilhelmina passed the throne to her only child, Queen Juliana, who had four children--all girls. When Juliana's oldest daughter, Queen Beatrix, had a son in 1967, he was the first Dutch prince to be born in 116 years! He now has three children of his own--all girls!!

*Mary II co-reigned with her husband (and first cousin) William III with the understanding that if she died before him, which she did, her sister Anne would not assume the throne until his death.

Princesses at Ground Zero

(L-R) Deputy Executive Director of the Port Authority of New York Bill Baroni shows Belgium's Crown Prince Philippe and Princess Mathilde the plans for a revitalized Ground Zero at the World Trade Center in New York June 23, 2011. REUTERS/Jessica Rinaldi (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS ROYALS)

Ten years ago today, the entire world experienced a terrible tragedy. The terrorist attacks of 9/11 killed thousands of people from dozens of nationalities. For thousands, perhaps millions of people whose families were touched by the deaths that day or the recovery efforts that followed, that day is still a close, personal horror. The remembrance ceremonies, both public and private, will take place all around the world. The truly international scale of the event is indicated by the fact that the site of the main attacks, now called Ground Zero, has become a required stop for any dignitary visiting New York, including our favorite royal ladies.

One (formerly) royal lady undoubtedly has the closest connection to 9/11. Sarah Duchess of York was not only in New York on Sept. 11, 2001, but she was running late on her way to the World Trade Center to meet with the staff of her Chances for Children charity. Fortunately for that staff, they had gathered in the lobby to greet her and, therefore, were able to escape. As ABC News reported at the time, she was "desperately upset for everyone involved in this terrible tragedy," according to her spokesperson. "It is unbelievable, she was just a few minutes away when the explosion took place." Meanwhile, her ex-husband Prince Andrew was on one of the numerous of transatlantic flights that were turned back to Europe when the United States shut down its air space that morning. Andrew and Sarah together attended the memorial ceremonies five years later. Recently, recently has published a children's book online called "The Little Pear Tree" about a tree that survived the attacks.

The next closest connection was with one of our princesses who was also not a royal at the time. Letizia Ortiz Rocasolano was still a highly successful television journalist when her network sent her to cover the aftermath of the attacks live from Ground Zero. This was just one of several onsite tragic stories she covered in her career. In fact, she is reported to have met her husband, Spain's future king Prince Felipe, when he visited an oil spill disaster that she was covering. After Felipe and Letizia announced that they would marry in the spring of 2004, the national celebrations planned for their wedding were greatly reduced as a result of the terrorist attacks in Spain on March 11. As a royal fiancee, the earliest public exposure Letizia experienced was visiting the survivors and victims families of the 3/11 attacks.

 Having lived in New York before her marriage to Crown Princess Willem Alexander of The Netherlands, Crown Princess Maxima may also feel a very personal connection to the events of 9/11. She and her husband attended the memorial ceremonies at Ground Zero on the eighth anniversary of the attacks.

The King and Queen of Norway were in New York barely a year later, while the debris was still being cleared. Poor weather that day only heightened the dismal view they had of the site. They returned again in 2005 after a Norwegian architectural firm was selected to design the entrance pavilion to National September 11 Memorial and Museum. Last year, their son and daughter-in-law Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit paid a visit to inspect the construction progress of the pavilion.

During her June 2010 trip to address the United Nations in New York, Queen Elizabeth II laid a wreath where the South Tower of the World Trade Center once stood. Then, she and Prince Philip traveled to Hanover Square to officially open the British Garden of Remembrance, dedicated to the 67 Brits who died that day. Five years earlier, when the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall made Ground Zero the first stop of their American tour, a tattered Union Jack that had flown that day and been found among the rebel was flown again in honor of the royal visit. The couple left behind a bouquet with a message that read, “In enduring memory of our shared grief, Charles and Camilla.”

Crown Prince Philippe and Crown Princess Mathilde of Belgium were there in June 2011. It was only the most recent of several visits to the site for Mathilde, who had been to the World Trade Center before the attacks and returned again only seven months after the devastation. During her 2002 visit, she was quoted as saying, "'there are no words to describe this now.''

While Queen Margrethe II of Denmark did not include Ground Zero as part of her two-day official visit to New York in June 2011, she will be represented by her son and daughter-in-law Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary next month when several Nordic heads of state gather to mark the 100-year anniversary of the American Scandinavian Foundation and the tenth anniversary of 9/11.

 But only one royal lady has ever been put on the spot about the aftermath on 9/11. Last year, Queen Rania of Jordan was caught in a challenging position while visiting New York to promote a United Nations program for girls. As part of her tour, she had agreed to do media interviews. At the time, a lot of American media was focused on a controversial proposition to build a 'mosque' near Ground Zero and on an irate preacher's call to burn the Qu'ran. When faced with questions about these hot-button topic, the Islamic queen responded with the rational equanimity for which the entire Jordanian royal family is known. She told Matt Lauer of Today, "I think it's very important for us to focus on the actual debate, because my fear is that the debate now is dominated by radicals on both sides who want to preach hatred and spread fear among people. Or, worse still, it's also being used by some demagogues in order -- as a cheap political tool. And what's really important for us is to see the debate being dominated by well-informed people who are reasonable, who really care about the issues at hand. We need to redraw the battle lines. It's not Muslims against Christians. It's not East against West. It's extremists on all sides against moderates of all sides. Once we can really understand that this is the landscape, then we can start to rid ourselves of the evil forces that exist."