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)
Read more about this topic: Empress Dowager
Famous quotes containing the words indian and/or empress:
“Land of opportunity, land for the huddled masses—where would the opportunity have been without the genocide of those Old Guard, bristling Indian tribes?”
—Edward Hoagland (b. 1932)
“We never really are the adults we pretend to be. We wear the mask and perhaps the clothes and posture of grown-ups, but inside our skin we are never as wise or as sure or as strong as we want to convince ourselves and others we are. We may fool all the rest of the people all of the time, but we never fool our parents. They can see behind the mask of adulthood. To her mommy and daddy, the empress never has on any clothes—and knows it.”
—Frank Pittman (20th century)