Different Types of Queens
Queen Consort: a wife of a ruling, living King
does not have her husband’s political powers
has a similar status as her husband (unless it’s a morganatic marriage)
Queen Regent: the wife or widow of the King left to use his royal prerogative to rule in his incapacity, absence or death
rare and unlikely to happen again in the British monarchy (Katherine Parr)
in ASoIaF, when her son has not come into his official adulthood, even when he technically is the King
Queen Dowager: a widow of a past, dead King
usually keeps the precedence/status of a Queen Consort
doesn’t have to be the mother to the new ruler
still can’t make executive, legal, judicial decisions, unless she is in line to succeed, then she’d just be Queen regnant, in which case she’s likely not use her Dowager title
in various imperial Chinese dynasties, could enjoy a lot of de facto political power
Queen Mother: a mother of a ruling, living ruler (a Dowager as well)
in the British monarchy, not really a solid or substantial title or really used
in Europe, usually kept the precedence/status of a Queen Consort
in Europe, still can’t make executive, legal, judicial decisions
in the Ottoman Empire, the Sultana, was politically only lower than the Sultan himself and enjoyed a lot of power due to Islamic “A mother's right is God's right”
in more “symbolically”-driven societies (ex. the Yoruba’s kingdoms) she doesn’t have to be a blood relative and can just be an individual of any age imbued with the ritual essence of past queens in the ceremonial sense--regarded as the ruler’s mother then
Queen Regnant: a woman who rules in her own right
the exact same status and abilities as a a male ruler
in Europe, her spouse can be a King Consort or a Prince Consort, according to the allowances by custom or power and agreement of persons arranging the terms of rule and marriage
her husband will not outrank her, nor will he have her political powers de jure
[NEW INFO] however, as we see in Queen Joanna of first just Castile and then of Aragon, queen Regnantas could still have their power materially taken from them by men/male relatives/spouses like Joanna’s father Ferdinand of Aragon and husband Philip I of the Spanish Hapsburgs -> even under laws or customs like Jure uxoris, or “right by wife”, which “describes a title of nobility used by a man because his wife holds the office or title suo jure ("in her own right"). Similarly, the husband of an heiress could become the legal possessor of her lands”; Philip I was her official “co-ruler”