9 Queens and Princesses Who Changed the Course of Their Countries’ History

Throughout the history of the world there have been many royal women who played an important role in the development of their respective countries. These queens and princesses lived in different times and regions, but each marked the course of their nation in ways that are still felt today.

O awesome.club compiled a list of queens and princesses from different parts of the globe who, in one way or another, left a mark on the history of their country.

Perhaps no other princess has had the same worldwide impact as Lady Diana Spencer. When she married Prince Charles, she was only 20 years old and the ceremony was called “the wedding of the century”. However, her legacy is not based solely on the stunning wedding dress she wore.

The princess balanced the relationships that monarchs around the world had with their people, breaking the protocol that separated them and bringing them closer to the people. Her role as a mother, the empathy she showed for those most in need and her work for endless charities made her the most popular figure in the British royal family of her day.

Her sons William, the Duke of Cambridge, and Harry, the Duke of Sussex, married for love and attributed the upbringing and training they received from their mother to why they now seek to help the most disadvantaged.

Victoria’s reign is the second longest in English history, surpassed only by her great-great-granddaughter, the current Elizabeth II. Victoria ascended the throne when she was just 18 years old and the “Victorian era” was marked by the expansion of the British Empire. In 1877, she became the first Englishwoman to obtain the title of Empress of India. Furthermore, during this time, England made great industrial, scientific, and political advances. During her reign, the modern constitutional monarchy was gradually established in the United Kingdom.

Victoria married her cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. The couple had nine children, who, along with twenty-six of their forty-two grandchildren, married different members of European royalty, creating ties between the vast majority of royal houses on that continent. That’s why she was nicknamed “Europe’s grandmother”.

There are currently five monarchs on the throne who are descendants of Victoria: Queen Elizabeth II of England, King Harald V of Norway, King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, Queen Margaret II of Denmark and King Felipe of Spain. There are also a number of other members of European royalty.

Grace Kelly was a well-known Hollywood actress who won an Oscar for her role in the film. to love is to suffer🇧🇷 However, at the age of 26, when he was at the height of his professional career, he decided to retire from cinema. The young woman met and fell in love with the sovereign prince of Monaco, Rainier III. The union between the two gave new life to the small European principality. The wedding was attended by more than a thousand journalists from around the world, which helped transform Monaco into the billionaires’ playground it is today.

After the Second World War, the principality became impoverished, but the arrival of the beautiful Grace attracted playboys from all over the world to invest their money. It soon became a glamorous place with casinos where the rich spent their summer holidays, which was instrumental in the recovery of the Monegasque economy.

The princess played an important role in the revitalization of Monaco. Grace served as president of the Red Cross and hosted a charity ball (the Ball of the Roses) that continues to be celebrated today.

King Henry VIII’s second daughter inherited the English throne after the death of her sister, the Catholic Queen Mary I, in 1558. During her reign, Elizabeth I managed to turn England into a Protestant country after her sister Mary restored Catholicism. In this way, the independent Protestant church of Rome was established and this would eventually evolve into what is now known as the Anglican Church. Furthermore, she proclaimed the subordination of the church to the crown, making the monarchy its highest authority. This led the Vatican to excommunicate her.

Elizabeth I was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor household. Although she received numerous marriage proposals and parliamentary petitions, she never married, so the English people dubbed her “the virgin queen” and worshiped her virginity. His reign is considered the golden age in his country.as it had an economic development and it was the English Renaissance, a period in which great writers such as William Shakespeare emerged.

Although it was her daughter Queen Elizabeth I who formally founded the church in England, still in force in that country, Anne Boleyn was responsible for the break with Catholicism. She was a lady-in-waiting to Queen Catherine of Aragon, who, despite several pregnancies, was unable to give the king a child. Disappointed at the lack of an heir, Henry VIII fell madly in love with Anne Boleyn and asked for a divorce from his wife.

After the Catholic Church’s request to annul their marriage was rejected, the king decided to sever relations with the Vatican and banished Catherine and her daughter. Defying the pope, Henry married Anne in 1533, making her the queen consort of England.

However, the romance was short-lived. Anne gave birth to a girl (Elizabeth I) and Henry, once again disappointed, lost interest in his wife, who was beheaded a few years later on charges of treason, incest and adultery.

Nefertiti lived approximately 3,500 years ago in Ancient Egypt and her name means “beauty has arrived”. She was the wife and right hand of Pharaoh Akhenaten. Together with her husband, she promoted a religious revolution that sought to replace polytheism with the worship of the solar god Aten. Thus began a new iconography that showed the royal couple’s private life, particularly focused on the closeness the two had with their daughters. Never had court art depicted sovereigns in this way.

This method is known today as political propaganda and, at the time, its aim was to show the triumph of the god Aten over the other gods and the royal family as an intermediary between the sun god and his people.

It was the first time that the image of an Egyptian queen was present in public and even private spaces, and her appearance has been found in several tombs of officials of the time. Historians today debate the possibility that Nefertiti was the mother of Tutankhamun, the last pharaoh of the royal blood of Egypt’s 18th dynasty.

They say that the Disney movie, Mulan, was inspired by this Chinese princess. Pingyang was the third daughter of Li Yuan, Duke of Tang, who founded the Tang dynasty in 618 after rebelling against Emperor Yang of Sui. After Pingyang’s father was arrested, the young princess went into hiding and used her fortune to buy men’s loyalty. Furthermore, the woman managed to convince the rebel leaders of several cities to join her cause.

Pingyang gathered an army of 70,000 men which he called the “Lady’s Army”. After reuniting with his father, they managed to conquer the capital of Chang’an and the Duke ascended the throne as the new Emperor, forming a dynasty that would rule China for three centuries.

She officially became Princess Zhao of Pingyang and was the only woman to obtain the rank of marshal. After her death, he was ordered to be given a military funeral, appropriate for someone of high rank.

Arjumand Banu Begum was a Persian princess when she met the future Emperor of India, Prince Shah Jahan. Arjumand became the fourth wife of Sha, who after their marriage bestowed on her the title of Mumtaz Mahal, meaning “the chosen one of the palace”.

The emperor considered her the great love of his life. She accompanied him on his military campaigns throughout the Mongol Empire. It is said that the beauty of the Empress was such that poets of the time constantly wrote about her. The couple had 14 children, among them the future Emperor Aurangzeb, considered the last of the “great Mongols”. After complications in her last pregnancy, Mumtaz died in childbirth.

The emperor, disconsolate after the death of his wife, left public life for a year and remained in mourning. In honor of the love he had for his late wife, he began construction of the most beautiful mausoleum in history, the Taj Mahal. In 2007, the work was named one of the 7 wonders of the world.

Catherine became empress in 1762, after carrying out a coup d’état on her own husband, Pedro III. During her tenure, she expanded the Russian Empire after conquering New Russia, Crimea, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania and Courland. In addition, she reformed the administration of government, introducing new legal ideas inspired by the Enlightenment.

Thanks to her, Russia was considered one of the most cultured nations of her time, as Catherine increased the number of books and newspapers, as well as worked to increase education, art, culture, and medicine. During the 34 years she was in power, she managed to turn Russia into a military and political power.

Did you know these queens and princesses? Which of these stories surprised you the most? Tell us which character you found most inspiring.