Empress Dowager - Indian Empress Dowager

Indian Empress Dowager

Queen-Empress Victoria was widowed in 1861, before her accession as Queen-Empress of India. Her son, her grandson and her great-grandson all died before their wives, and their widows were known as empresses dowager in this Indian context. Had George VI, the last Emperor of India, died before the independence of India was proclaimed in 1947, his widow would have been known as the dowager empress of India. However, George VI did not die until 1952, some years after India's formal independence and the renunciation of the title Emperor of India by the British monarch (which took place formally in 1948).

  • Queen-Empress Alexandra (d. 20 Nov. 1925), widow of King-Emperor Edward VII (r. 1901-1910)
  • Queen-Empress Mary (d. 24 Mar. 1953), widow of King-Emperor George V (r. 1910-1936)
  • Queen-Empress Elizabeth (d. 30 Mar. 2002), widow of King-Emperor George VI (r. 1936-1947)

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