# Queen Mother = Queen's Mum? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 11, 2002, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-mother-queens-mum/102964 "2002-04-11T03:09:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2002, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-mother-queens-mum/102964/1 "2002-04-11T03:09:13Z")
I don’t get it. Queen Elizabeth is THE Queen of England, correct? Who was her father, and was her father a King of England? (If so, King who?) And, if not, wouldn’t that make the Queen Mother THE Queen of England until her death…thus making Queen Elizabeth into Princess Elizabeth until the Queen Mother dies??? But, Elizabeth is Queen… This week’s next week is next week’s last week! (Daffy Duck) Boy, am I confused… Please set me straight! - Jinx “Brave, Brave Sir Robin rode forth from Camelot…” ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2002, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-mother-queens-mum/102964/2 "2002-04-11T03:15:54Z")
The Queen Mum (QM) _was_ titled “Queen”, but only when she was married to the ruling king. QM’s daughter was the next in line to the throne when QM’s husband died, so she became Queen Elizabeth II, and QM got “demoted” to “Queen Mother”. It’s been explained better, but that’s the gist of it. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2002, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-mother-queens-mum/102964/3 "2002-04-11T03:24:58Z")
_sigh_ No, see the Queen Mother was the Queen _Consort_. Rather than Queen _Regnant_. (I think that’s spelled correctly). Meaning, she was not Queen in her own right-her husband was King George VI. Queen Mother is simply a title given to the Queen Consort of the previous monarch. Others to have held the title in the past would be Queen Alexandra and Queen Mary. If the next monarch is NOT the son or daughter of the former Consort, she would be called Queen Dowager. The last Queen Dowager was Queen Adelaide, (nee of Saxe-Meingen), wife of William IV. William and Adelaide had no children\* so, instead, the next one in line was their niece, Princess Alexandrina Victoria, who became Queen Victoria. \*Poor Adelaide did have children in the early years of her marriage-a Princess Elizabeth, but the poor girl died only a week or so after her birth. She also gave birth to twin girls who were stillborn. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2002, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-mother-queens-mum/102964/4 "2002-04-11T03:25:05Z")
The late Queen Mother became the Queen Mother when Elizabeth II became Queen. Before that she was the Queen Consort to George VI. Queen Consort means she was the wife of the King, but not a reigning monarch. Elizabeth II is George VI and the late Queen Mother’s daughter. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2002, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-mother-queens-mum/102964/5 "2002-04-11T03:26:42Z")
We thrashed out this issue thoroughly in this thread: [The Queen Mum is Dead - Is Charles Already King?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=106727&highlight=queen+elizabeth). Try skimming through it and see if it answers your questions. ---
**Author:** ![Futile\_Gesture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2002, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-mother-queens-mum/102964/6 "2002-04-11T11:17:16Z")
And she ain’t the ‘Queen Of England’ any more than she is the ‘Queen of Yorkshire’, ‘Queen of Bristol’ or ‘Queen of the High Street’. You won’t find her introduced anywhere at anytime as ‘Queen Of England’, at least not by anyone who doesn’t want taken aside and given a 30 minutes lecture on royal titles. But we’ve been through this dozens of times before… ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2002, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-mother-queens-mum/102964/7 "2002-04-12T13:43:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Guinastasia \* > \*\*\ > > Queen Mother is simply a title given to the Queen Consort of the previous monarch. Others to have held the title in the past would be Queen Alexandra and Queen Mary. If the next monarch is NOT the son or daughter of the former Consort, she would be called Queen Dowager. The last Queen Dowager was Queen Adelaide, (nee of Saxe-Meingen), wife of William IV. William and Adelaide had no children\* so, instead, the next one in line was their niece, Princess Alexandrina Victoria, who became Queen Victoria. \*\* No, the widow of the King is always the “Queen Dowager”; the title is not tied to whether the King is succeeded by his own issue. “Queen Mother” is a more informal title, which the late Queen Mother preferred, especially since when Queen Elizabeth II succeeded, her grandmother, George V’s widow, Queen Mary, the Queen Dowager, was still alive - it would have been confusing to have two people commonly referred to as the “Queen Dowager.” Although the late Queen Mother preferred the more informal title, she was also “Queen Dowager.” From _Halsbury’s Laws of England_, 4th ed., Vol. 8, “Constitutional Law”: > [@](#): > > **886. The Queen dowager** On the death of the King regnant the Queen Consort becomes the Queen dowager, and ceases to be protected by the law of treason, becasue any attempt on her life or chastity would no longer endanger the succession. > > It is stated that the Sovereign’s license is required before she can remarry; but if she does so, she does not lose her style and dignity, as dowager peeresses do if commoners by birth. In other respects, it is said, the Queen dowager retains most of the privileges which she enjoyed as Queen Consort. [footnotes omitted] ---
**Author:** ![APB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@APB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2002, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-mother-queens-mum/102964/8 "2002-04-12T14:00:30Z")
Which is why the list of the Queen Mother’s titles read out by the Garter King of Arms at her funeral included ‘Queen Dowager’ _and_ ‘Queen Mother’. ---
**Author:** ![Doublemint](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doublemint](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doublemint)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2002, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-mother-queens-mum/102964/9 "2002-04-12T14:18:38Z")
Perhaps this link will help: [http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~stephan/Rulers/windsor.html](http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~stephan/Rulers/windsor.html) All the monarchs lined up nice and neat 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![kquinn1121](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/50afbb/32.png) [@kquinn1121](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kquinn1121)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2002, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-mother-queens-mum/102964/10 "2002-04-12T14:27:08Z")
In order to become a King or Queen, one must be within the blood line of the Windsor family. The Queen Mother was not, she essentially “married into the family” by marrying King George VI. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2002, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-mother-queens-mum/102964/11 "2002-04-12T15:02:04Z")
Right, she was also Queen Dowager, but she was rarely called that. The same with Queen Mary and Queen Alexandra.