Queen dowager

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Part of a series on
Imperial, royal, noble, gentry and chivalric ranks in Europe
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Baron, Baroness Thane Lendmann Primor Boyar
Ritter Baronet, Baronetess Fidalgo Nobile
Knight, Chevalier Imperial Knight Druzhinnik
Esquire Gentleman, Gentlewoman Ministerialis Lord of the Manor
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A queen dowager or dowager queen (compare: princess dowager or dowager princess) is a title or status generally held by the widow of a king. In the case of the widow of an emperor, the title of empress dowager is used. Its full meaning is clear from the two words from which it is composed: queen indicates someone who served as queen consort (i.e. wife of a king), while dowager indicates a woman who continues to hold the title from her deceased husband (a queen who reigns in her own right is a queen regnant). A queen mother is a former queen consort, often a dowager queen, who is the mother of the reigning monarch.

Currently (2019) there are five queens dowager: Kesang Choden of Bhutan (who is the only living queen grandmother worldwide), Norodom Monineath of Cambodia (who is also queen mother), Lisa Najeeb Halaby (Noor Al'Hussein) of Jordan, and Sirikit Kitiyakara of Thailand (who is also queen mother). Princess Latifah of Morocco is dowager princess since her husband's death and is now also a princess mother since her son is now king.