Which early English queens were executed?

Factual Questions
1

I just read a reference to “May 19, 1536: Anne Boleyn becomes the first English queen to be executed by her own country.” And I thought it was a strange way of wording it. Had there been some other English queen prior to Anne Boleyn who had been executed by a foreign power?

I looked and, as far as I can tell, the only English Queens who have been executed were Anne Boleyn in 1536, Katherine Howard in 1542, and Jane Grey in 1554. And arguably, Mary Stuart in 1587, who was semi-English and a Queen. (The sixteenth century was not a good era for English Queens.)

Are they talking about Boudica? She wasn’t really English or a queen and she died by suicide but a foreign power was involved.

Or is there some other English Queen I’m missing?

2

Boudica was assuredly not English (there being no England, nor Angles, on Britain yet), so she wouldn’t count even if the Romans had killed her.
I suspect the wording just derives from the feeling that a queen’s execution by her own country is a shocking thing, yet England did it more than once, and Boleyn was the first.

3

The French did in Marie Antoinette, rather later of course. And the Tudors did for another one if you count Lady Jane Grey, who was proclaimed, but not crowned Queen.

4

As far as I am aware the only English queens to be executed, ever, were Anne Boleyn, Catherine Howard and Lady Jane Grey (who might not count as noted above). All were executed by their own country. Maybe the emphasis is on the fact that she was “first” and not so much on the “by her own country” part.

5

Do Edward II and Richard I Lionheart count?

6

My regret is that I didn’t think of this joke first.

7

Good joke, but Richard I wasn’t executed, Richard II was ( probably ) ;).

8

ISTM They’re noting the difference between being an English queen - as in spouse of the monarch - and Queen of England, who rules or ruled in her own right.

9

Both were Kings, not Queens.

10

The joke is that they were both rumored to be homosexual. Hence the play on “queen” ;).

Of course whether they were or not is entirely uncertain. It’s a bit more likely of Edward II than Richard I, but unprovable either way.

11

That’s true. But in either case, they werent “Queens”. Richard Lionheart was very butch.

So, the joke- isn’t.

12

To the best of my knowledge, no Anglo-Saxon *cwenen *(modern English: queens) were ever executed. Since the Conquest there’s been:

Matilda of Flanders, queen consort to William I, died of natural causes in 1083.

Edith of Scotland, queen consort to Henry I, died of natural causes in 1118.

Adelica of Louvain, second queen consort to Henry I, remarried after his death and died of natural causes in 1151.

Matilda of Boulogne, queen consort to King Stephen, died of illness in 1152.

Maude, queen regnant of England and former Holy Roman empress, died of natural causes in 1167.

Eleanor of Aquitaine, queen consort of Henry II, died of natural causes in 1204.

Berengaria of Navarre, queen consort of Richard I, died of natural causes in 1230.

Isabelle of Angouleme, queen consort of King John, died in 1246 under strange circumstances, after having been accused of plotting to poison King Louis IX of France. She took refuge in Fontevrault Abbey, where she died. Her death may well have been natural.

Eleanor of Provence, queen consort of Henry III, died of natural causes in 1291.

Leonor (Eleanor) of Castile, queen consort to Edward I, died of natural causes (likely malarial fever) in 1290.

Marguerite of France, second queen consort to Edward I, died of natural causes in 1318.

Isabella of France, queen consort of Edward II, died in 1358 of natural causes.

Philippa of Hainaut, queen consort of Edward III, died of edema in 1369.

Anne of Bohemia, queen consort to Richard II, died of the plague in 1394.

Isabella de Valois, second queen consort to Richard II, remarried after his death and died in childbirth in 1409.

Jeanne of Navarre, queen consort of Henry IV, died in 1437, likely of natural causes. Bizarrely, her own stepson Henry V had accused her of witchcraft and had her imprisoned for several years.

Catherine de Valois, queen consort of Henry V, died of the effects of childbirth in 1437. She had taken a lover after the death of her husband, and given birth to several children of dubious legitimacy.

Marguerite of Anjou, queen consort of Henry VI, died in 1482, likely of natural causes.

Elizabeth Woodville, queen consort of Edward IV, died of natural causes in 1492.

Anne Neville, queen consort of Richard III, died of tuberculosis in 1485.

Elizabeth of York, died in 1503 of the effects of childbirth.

That brings us to the wives of Henry VIII, and we ALL know what happened there. There was no precedent for the execution of a king’s wife and crowned queen, not by her husband, not by a conquering king, not under any circumstances. That is not to say scandals did not happen. Isabella of France is notorious. Eleanor Cobham, wife of Humphrey of Gloucester (Henry V’s brother) was accused and convicted of witchcraft by her royal brother-in-law, and imprisoned for life.

13

Any pre conquest Queen lose her head?

14

You think its a brave woman who marries a Cnut.