Royal Mistresses who became Queens

[Music] Royal mistresses who became Queens [Music] through most of History King selected wives for their Royal Blood and political connections women they actually liked and were attracted to were relegated to being mere Mistresses these women were usually local Aristocrats or even commoners who would never be considered contenders to be consort the majority of monarchs had Mistresses and their wives often looked the other way safe in the knowledge that their place as Queen could never be usurped but some Royal courtesans did come to wield great power and on a few incredibly rare occasions the Stars aligned to put the king's lover on the throne let's meet eight Royal mistresses who successfully became Queens Inez de Castro posthumous queen of Portugal was born in 1325 in Galicia what is now in Northern Portugal she was of noble but illegitimate birth at 15 she came to the Royal Court to serve as a lady in waiting to constanza of Castile the new bride of Prince Pedro heir to the throne but Pedro was not particularly interested in his new wife he preferred the company of her beautiful and Charming lady Inez the two began a very open Affair and outraged the court Pedro favored his lovers galatian family and offered them favors while ignoring and infuriating his wife's more powerful Castilian Ken the prince must have found his way into his wife's bed at least once as she gave birth to a son Fernando constanza died a few weeks after the birth single again Pedro wanted to make his mistress wife number two but his father King Alfonso IV refused and banished Inez to a Convent he proposed several other more suitable Royal ladies for his son's consideration but Pedro would have no other wife but Inez he married her in secret and frequently stole away to the nunnery to be with her they had three children together joao Denise and Beatrice when King Alfonso learned that his son had disobeyed him he was Furious he commanded three Knights to sneak into the convent and murder Inez they beheaded her in front of her three small children when Pedro learned of his beloved brutal murder he was heartbroken and unhinged he raised an army and prepared to take Portugal from his father by force but just then the Old King conveniently died now King Pedro rode down the murderous Knight who had butchered Inez and publicly ripped out their hearts crying that they didn't deserve Hearts as they had pulverized his he determined that his beloved would have the honors in death she had been denied in life he had her body exhumed from her grave dressed in the finest gown and Royal robes and sat upon the throne he placed the crown of the queen upon her head and ordered all of the nobility to kiss the Hem of her dress and swear loyalty to her as Queen he begged the pope to recognize his marriage to Inez and make their children a legit met but was refused though they could not be his heirs his three children lived as royalty Pedro eventually had his posthumous Queen buried in an exquisitely carved tomb ten years later he was buried next to her he said that at the last judgment he and his darling Inez would look upon each other as they Rose from their graves and that they would be together until the end of the world Christina Abraham's daughter queen of Sweden was a Finnish woman of unknown parentage at 24 she met 54 year old King Carl VIII of Sweden Carl had been deposed from his throne and gone into Exile in Finland at the time part of the Swedish Empire the pair began an affair and a year later Carl brought Christina with him when he returned to Sweden to reclaim his throne King Carl had been married twice to Noble women and had 10 children but his second wife and all five of his sons died of Bubonic plague only the five daughters survived at the time no one thought a woman could rule so Carl didn't have an heir he was overjoyed when Christina gave birth to a son Carl she also had a daughter Anna but no one was much concerned about her as king Carl Lay Dying With Christina by his side he called for a priest to Wed them he married his mistress in order to legitimize their son and name him Heir Christina was proclaimed queen of Sweden and became Dowager Queen days later when Carl died Prince Carl was only five and his mother had little political power to push his claim to the throne the King's son-in-laws and other Royal relatives fought over the crown and eventually Carl's nephew was made Regent little is known of what became of Queen Christina or her children she must have gone quietly as she lived to the age of 60. her brief tenure as Queen of Sweden consigned to the footnotes of History King Henry VII of England shattered the rules of matrimony particularly in regard to who might become a royal bride after over a decade with Catherine of Aragon a traditional consort who hailed from the Spanish royal family Henry grew frustrated at her failure to Bear him a son like most other monarchs he carried on a slew of extramarital Affairs and one of his lovers gave birth to a baby boy Henry thus became certain that the fertility problem wasn't his believing his marriage to be sinful in the eyes of God he petitioned the pope for an annulment but rather than send forth ambassadors to contract a second foreign Princess Bride Henry had his eye on a young woman at court whom he desired to elevate to the throne Anne Malin Queen of England was the daughter of the ambassador to France she wasn't considered especially beautiful but she had grown up on the continent and possessed abundant style and sophistication her Charming and dazzling personality Enchanted the king and had a bit of a reputation rumors flew that both she and her sister Mary had lovers while living at the French court and even that they were first in certain French sexual techniques though there is little proof behind this gossip which was most likely used to slander Anne At first she resisted Henry's advances she hoped to marry a gentleman of her own status rather than become yet another Mistress of the king her rejection only fueled the king's order and eventually she relented and agreed to sleep with him if he would marry her first it took Henry seven years of legal battle and eventually splitting England from the Catholic Church to secure himself an annulment and all that time and resisted his Amorous advances if she had given in slept with a king and become pregnant the legitimacy of their eventual marriage and children would have been shattered only by putting Henry off could Anne become his wife and queen courtiers couldn't understand her hold over Henry and many especially fervent Catholics accused her of using witchcraft to ensnare him in November 1532 Henry and Anne traveled to France to secure King Francis the first support of the annulment while crossing the channel the couple probably finally consummated their relationship Henry's first marriage was doomed but not yet technically over back in London they had a secret wedding which made the king a bigamist but it couldn't wait as Anne was pregnant the annulment was finalized in May and in June visibly pregnant and was crowned Queen at Westminster Abbey in September she gave birth to a healthy child Elizabeth it wasn't the son Henry had moved Heaven and Earth to secure and miscarried their second child and Henry began to go cold on her especially because she grew jealous of his dalliances with other women the Queen's enemies accused her of adultery and incest crimes of which she was certainly Innocent but nevertheless she was beheaded at the Tower of London 11 days after Anne's execution Henry walked down the aisle for the third time with Jane Seymour she was the daughter of an English Noble family and a lady in waiting to Queen Anne Henry shifted his attention to Jane months before cutting things off with Anne the though it is not clear if Jane slept with the king before their wedding night Henry chose her because she was the complete opposite of Anne she was quiet demure devout and chaste like Anne she had initially rejected the king's invitation to bed but after two marriages had failed to produce a male Heir Henry wasn't about to take any chances Jane's mother Marjorie had given birth to 10 children so the King was optimistic about her fecundity some historians speculate that Henry and Jane may have slept together after Anne's downfall was certain but before she was actually dead Jane being pregnant may explain why the couple wed so quickly though that could also be explained by Henry's rash and callous personality after their wedding in May 1536 Jane is known to have suffered a miscarriage at Christmas before conceiving the Future King Edward or the 6th in January but she may have suffered an earlier miscarriage shortly after the wedding Jane succeeded in giving Henry VII a male Heir but she failed to remain Queen for long she died of childbed fever 12 days after the birth Henry's next consort was a political bride and of Cleves she certainly wasn't a mistress beforehand in fact it is likely that because of their lack of chemistry and his impotence they didn't sleep together at all instead the King was seen frequently climbing into the bed of her 16 year old lady in waiting Catherine Howard she was a cousin of Amber Lynn her uncle the Duke of Norfolk placed the beautiful young lady in Henry's path in the hopes of gaining influence for himself before they tie the knot Henry doted on Catherine presented her with gifts and called her his very Jewel of Womanhood the couple wed in July 1540 and Catherine became Queen whether or not Henry now old overweight Surly and in constant pain from an ulcerated leg was up to the job of consummating their Union is Up For Debate but he was certainly trying his best being with Catherine it made him feel young again while Henry was besotted his Queen was being blackmailed by a former confidante who knew that she was not a virgin having been raped by her music teacher years earlier worse she was actively carrying out an affair with Henry's favorite courtier which she may have been coerced into when news of the Queen's adultery reached the king he was devastated and refused to see her again she was even more devastated when she was sentenced to death and beheaded at the Tower of London at just 19. Henry's Sixth and final wife Catherine Parr was another English lady but as she was more of a nursemaid and companion than a lover to the elderly King she is not considered to have been his mistress [Music] queen of Sweden was the daughter of a prison guard she worked as a waitress in a Tavern owned by a court musician that's where King Eric the 14th first spotted the remarkably beautiful 15 year old and took her as his lover the 32 year old King had courted a number of foreign Royals including Queen Elizabeth the First of England but he had far more interest in Karen he dismissed his other Mistresses and gave her clothes and jewels befitting a queen and an honored place by his side at court she was granted Royal Apartments and servants including her former employer the court musician and most luxurious of all he brought in a tutor to teach her how to read and write the court was astonished by the elevation of the royal mistress and rumors circled that she was using Witchcraft and love potions to enchant the king cotton had been betrothed to a young naval officer before she met Eric the king lured the young man to court and murdered him Eric was mentally unstable and Karen was the only one who could calm him down when he flew into a rage his family approved of her gentle influence but they were scandalized when he chose to marry her she was crowned queen and their two young children Sigrid and Gustav were presented as a prince and princess politicians came to cut in to court influence with the King and she tried to stem his violent urges but as he spiraled further out of control she was blamed King Eric's erratic violence finally culminated in the execution of the entire Noble store family the people had had enough he was impressed his end and his brother Johan III sees the throne cotton and their children were locked up with Eric at torku Castle in Finland she chastised her husband for his evil deeds and Landing them all in prison she gave birth to two more children there but both died two of the Queen's former servants hatched a daring plot to rescue the deposed king and queen but they were discovered and executed finally the couple were separated to prevent the birth of any more children who might someday pose a threat to the new Royal regime cotton and her children were placed under house arrest in Finland four years later Eric's guards following orders from King Johann fed him a bowl of pea soup laced with arsenic he died at the age of 43. now widowed cotton was finally set free she remained in Finland where she was respected by her neighbors her son Gustav was now the rightful King and thus posed a threat to his uncle King Johann in order to keep him safe cotton was forced to kiss her nine-year-old son farewell and send him into hiding in Poland years later she tracked him down he was a penniless mercenary who had forgotten his mother and the Swedish language so they were unable to converse her daughter secret remained close to her mother throughout her life she married into a Swedish Noble family Queen Karen Moon's daughter died in 1612 age 61. Catherine the first Empress of Russia was born Marta Helena skovronska in 1684 in the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth when she was five her parents died of Bubonic plague and she and her four siblings were orphans she became a scullery maid in the household of a German Pastor she remained illiterate throughout her life Marta grew into a beautiful teenager and her employer feared she would cause her sons to go astray she had Marta married off to a Swedish officer with whom she lived for eight days but after the northern Wars shifted in Russia's favor and they pushed the Swedish army out of Poland Marta never saw her groom again the teenager was next presented in her undergarments to a Russian general to be his mistress he took her back home with him in Russia Marta was spotted by are Peter the Great's closest friend who knew that she was just to the emperor's taste he introduced her to the tsar and sure enough they became lovers in his youth Peter's mother had arranged his marriage to a political bride yodoxia lupicana they had three sons the only one survived childhood Peter and eudoxia never got along he grew to hate her and her conservative boyar family the Tsar was fascinated by the growing Enlightenment movement in Western Europe he traveled throughout Europe Incognito visiting the courts of King Louis at 15th of France William III of England and others when he returned to Russia he was bent on westernizing his vast Empire he was so enthusiastic about being a clean shaven that he taxed beards he divorced his estranged wife he wanted to end all arranged marriages which were the norm among the Russian Elite he thought the practice was barbaric and led to domestic violence as the partners usually resented each other he secretly married the woman he truly loved his mistress Marta she converted to Orthodoxy and took the Russian name yakatrina anglicized to Catherine together they had 12 children though only two survived childhood while the Tsar was building his Great Western city of Saint Petersburg he and Catherine lived in a three-room log cabin she cooked and cared for the children and he attended the garden just like an ordinary couple during a war with the Ottoman Empire Peter was defeated Catherine suggested that rather than surrender use her jewelry to bribe the Ottomans into allowing the Russian army to retreat the plan worked and Catherine saved the Empire and thousands of lives Peter rewarded her by marrying her publicly and having her crowned Zarina Tsar Peter died at 52 from gangrene of the bladder his only surviving children were two daughters Anna and Elizabeth so he had not declared an heir Catherine organized a coup and had herself declared ruler of Russia she sought out her four siblings in Paul land brought them to Russia and created them account and counter sales she also had Peter's ex-wife eudoxia imprisoned to make sure she wouldn't pose a threat as Russia was briefly at peace she reduced military spending and cut taxes on the peasants earning her their love but after only two years on the throne Empress Catherine died of a long abscess at 43. she was the first woman to rule Russia but she wouldn't be the last after years of confusion over who should occupy the throne her daughter Elizabeth seized power in 1741 she was later succeeded by Catherine II a great Catherine the first humble Origins and Rise as a mistress were long kept secret by the Russian royal family her remarkable story has only been brought to light in recent years Camilla Shand Queen of the UK and Commonwealth Realms was born in 1947 in London her father was an army officer turned businessman and her mother was the daughter of Baron ashcombe her mother's grandmother was Alice keppel one of king Edward VII's many Mistresses Camilla had a happy upper-class childhood was an Avid Reader and took writing lessons she attended finishing school in Switzerland and studied French in Paris in 1965 she was a debutante and moved to London to work as a secretary she was fired from one job for coming in late after spending a night out dancing she had an on off relationship with Andrew Parker Bowles for several years they broke up in 1970 and Andrew began dating Princess Anne Camilla and the Royals were in the same Social Circles and she formally met Charles at a party in 1971. they began and dating and met each other's families in 1973 Charles was sent overseas with the Navy and his relationship with Camilla ended abruptly it's not clear exactly why it may be that Charles wasn't ready to settle down but more likely they were broken up by members of the royal family who felt Camilla was not a suitable future Queen Charles's Uncle Lord mountbatten was pushing the prince towards his granddaughter Amanda notchball while the Queen mom favored the Spencer girls granddaughters of her lady in waiting Camilla married Andrew Parker Bowles and they had two children Tom and Laura in 1979 Lord mountbatten was assassinated by the IRA Charles was grief stricken and leaned on Camilla for support Andrew approved of his wife's affair with the prince and he had lovers of his own throughout their marriage Charles finally bowed to family pressure and married the woman hand-picked for him Diana Spencer he has denied that he spent the night before his wedding with Camilla but they picked up their Affair shortly after he returned from his disastrous honeymoon when their adultery was splashed on the tabloids Camilla became Infamous as the other woman Camilla and Andrew divorced in 1994 and Charles and Diana in 1996 a year later while in Paris with her boyfriend Egyptian millionaire Dodie Fayed Diana was killed in a car crash her death shocked and saddened the world Charles and Camilla kept things quiet in the wake of Diana's tragic death slowly she began to be seen with him at public events in 2005 Charles and Camilla finally wed in a civil ceremony the marriage was controversial but the queen and the government approved as Charles's wife Camilla was technically Princess of Wales but as the title was associated with Princess Diana she used the Lesser title Duchess of Cornwall there was speculation about what Camilla would be called once Charles became king but over the years she has become more accepted as a member of the Royal Family on September 8 2022 Queen Elizabeth died and her son became King Charles III the palace's announcement of the Queen's death confirmed that Camilla would be Queen consort there have been a handful of fascinating Royal mistresses who almost became Queen let me know in the comments if you would like to see a video on them in the future if you enjoyed this video please like subscribe comment your thoughts and check out my other Royal history videos if you really want to help please consider supporting me on patreon a link is in the description thank you for watching

Channel: History Tea Time with Lindsay Holiday

Views: 552,535

Keywords: history, documentary, royal family, royalty, british history, queen, queens of the world, european royalty, queens of europe, womens history, women in history, Royal history, Lindsay Holiday, Lindsay Holliday, History tea time, History tea time with Lindsay Holiday, royal mistresses, mistresses who became queen, mistress queen, royal mistress, henry viii mistress, anne boleyn, jane seymour, queen camilla, camilla queen consort, catherine i of russia, Karin Månsdotter

Id: RE78ysVbe3M

Length: 25min 34sec (1534 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 28 2023