British Queens Dowager - Definition - House of Hanover

House of Hanover

There were no queen mothers among the Hanoverians.

• Sophia of the Palatinate was the mother of George I, but died in 1714. She was herself the Heiress Presumptive of Queen Anne. Her death allowed George to succeed Anne later in the same year. His claim to the British throne was through her.
• Sophia Dorothea of Celle was the mother of George II, but died in 1726. George II did not become King until 1727. She was never regarded as queen, since her husband George I had divorced her in 1694, twenty years before becoming King of England.
• Caroline of Ansbach was the wife of George II but died in 1737. Her husband outlived her. They were the grandparents of their successor George III.
• Augusta of Saxe-Gotha was wife of Frederick, Prince of Wales, and mother of George III. As her husband was never king, she was never queen consort. She was always called the Dowager Princess of Wales from the death of her husband in 1751 until her own death in 1772.
• Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz was the wife of George III and mother of both George IV and William IV, but predeceased her husband in 1818.
• Maria Anne Fitzherbert was married to George IV while he was Prince of Wales in 1785. The marriage was considered invalid under the Royal Marriages Act 1772, so she never became queen consort. She never had children by this marriage. She died in 1837.
• Caroline of Brunswick was the queen consort of George IV but died in 1821. Her husband outlived her.
• Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen was the queen consort of William IV, but both parents outlived all their children. She outlived her husband and died in 1849. She was an aunt to Queen Victoria.
• Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld was the mother of Queen Victoria but was never a queen consort, so was not entitled to be queen mother. She still presumed that she would have the title, but her daughter was not very fond of her and made it clear that she would not grant it to her.