Editing Queen consort (section)

==Role==
The traditional [[historiography]] on queenship has created an image of a queen who is a king's "helpmate"<ref>{{Cite book|title=Queens, Concubines and Dowagers: The King's Wife in the Early Middle Ages|last=Stafford|first=P|year=1983|location=London|pages=100}}</ref> and provider of heirs.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Politics and Ritual in Early Medieval Europe|url=https://archive.org/details/politicsritualea00nels|url-access=limited|last=Nelson|first=J|year=1986|location=London|pages=[https://archive.org/details/politicsritualea00nels/page/n18 7]|isbn=9780907628590 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Mistry|first=Zubin|date=2019|title=Ermentrude's consecration (866): queen-making rites and biblical templates for Carolingian fertility|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/emed.12373|journal=Early Medieval Europe|volume=27|issue=4|pages=567–588|doi=10.1111/emed.12373|hdl=20.500.11820/141896e9-d116-4fc3-b50a-b9094ca0e8c0 |s2cid=213816257 |issn=1468-0254|hdl-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Queens, Concubines and Dowagers: The King's Wife in the Early Middle Ages|last=Stafford|first=P|year=1983|location=London|pages=86}}</ref> They had power within the royal household and partially within the court. Their duty was running the royal household smoothly, such as directing the children's education, supervising the staff, and managing the private royal treasury.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Queens, Concubines and Dowagers: The King's Wife in the Early Middle Ages|last=Stafford|first=P|year=1983|location=London|pages=112}}</ref> They unofficially acted as hostesses, ensuring the royal family was not involved in scandals and giving gifts to high-ranking officials in a society where this was important to maintain bonds. As a result, consorts were expected to act as wise, loyal, and chaste women.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Queens, Concubines and Dowagers: The King's Wife in the Early Middle Ages|last=Stafford|first=P|year=1983|location=London|pages=99}}</ref>

Some royal consorts of foreign origin have served as cultural transmitters. Due to their unique position of being reared in one culture and then, when very young, promised into marriage in another land with a different culture, they have served as a cultural bridge between nations. Based on their journals, diaries, and other autobiographical or historical accounts, some exchanged and introduced new forms of art, music, religion, and fashion.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Watanabe-O'Kelly |first1=Helen |title=Cultural Transfer and the Eighteenth-Century Queen Consort |journal=German History |date=2016 |volume=34 |issue=2 |pages=279–292 |doi=10.1093/gerhis/ghw002 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

However, the consorts of monarchs have no official political power {{Lang|la|per se}}, even when their position is [[constitution]]ally or [[statute|statutorily]] recognized. They often held an informal sort of power dependent on the opportunities afforded to them. Should a queen consort have had an amiable personality and high intelligence, produced a healthy [[heir]], and gained the favor of the court, then chances were higher she would gain more power over time.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Orr |first1=Clarissa Campbell |title=Queenship in Europe 1660–1815: The Role of the Consort |date=2004 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=0521814227 |pages=1–9 }}</ref> Many royal consorts have been shrewd or ambitious stateswomen and, usually (but not always) unofficially, among the monarch's most trusted advisors. In some cases, the royal consort has been the chief power behind her husband's throne, e.g., [[Maria Luisa of Parma]], wife of [[Charles IV of Spain]]. At other times the consort of a deceased monarch (the [[dowager queen]] or [[queen mother]]) has served as [[regent]] if her child, the successor to the throne, was still a minor:
* Queen Regent [[Anne of Kiev]], mother of [[Philip I of France]]
* Queen Regent [[Queen Jeonghui|Jeonghui]], grandmother of [[Seongjong of Joseon|King Seongjong of Korea]]
* Queen Regent [[Queen Munjeong|Munjeong]], mother of [[Myeongjong of Joseon|King Myeongjong of Korea]]
* Queen Regent [[Queen Sunwon|Sunwon]], grandmother of [[Heonjong of Joseon|King Heonjong of Korea]]
* Grand Princess Regent [[Olga of Kiev]], mother of [[Sviatoslav I Igorevich|Sviatoslav I of Kiev]]
* Grand Princess Regent [[Elena Glinskaya]], mother of [[Ivan the Terrible|Ivan IV of Russia]]
* Queen Regent [[Mary of Guise]], mother of [[Mary, Queen of Scots]]
* Queen Regent [[Catherine of Austria, Queen of Portugal|Catherine of Austria]], grandmother of [[King Sebastian of Portugal]]
* Queen Regent [[Marie de' Medici]], mother of [[Louis XIII]] of [[France]]
* Queen Regent [[Anne of Austria|Anne]], mother of [[Louis XIV]] of [[France]]
* Queen Regent [[Luisa de Guzmán]], mother of [[Afonso VI of Portugal]]
* [[Rani]] [[Lakshmi Bai]], mother of [[Raja]] Damodar Rao of [[Jhansi]]
* Queen Regent [[Maria Christina of Austria]], mother of [[Alfonso XIII]] of Spain
* Queen Regent [[Emma of Waldeck and Pyrmont]], mother of [[Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands]]
* Queen Regent [[Anna Khanum]], mother of [[Abbas II of Persia]]
* Queen Regent [[Helen of Greece and Denmark|Helen of Greece]], mother of [[Michael I of Romania]]

Similarly, in several cases in [[Kingdom of Siam (disambiguation)|Siam]] (now [[Thailand]]) the queen consort was named regent during an extended absence of the king:
* Queen Regent [[Saovabha Phongsri]], wife of [[Chulalongkorn|King Chulalongkorn]] of [[Siam]], served as Regent during his tour of Europe
* Queen Regent [[Sirikit]], wife of [[Bhumibol Adulyadej|King Bhumibol Adulyadej]] of [[Thailand]], served as Regent during her husband's extended retreat