Editing Queen consort (section)

==Titles==

When a title other than king is held by the sovereign, his wife can be referred to by the feminine equivalent, such as [[princess consort]] or empress consort.

In monarchies where [[polygamy]] has been practised in the past (such as [[Morocco]] and [[Thailand]]), or is practised today (such as the [[Zulu people|Zulu]] nation and the various [[Yoruba people|Yoruba]] polities), the number of the king's wives and their status varies. In Morocco, [[King Mohammed VI of Morocco|King Mohammed VI]] has broken with tradition and given his wife, [[Princess Lalla Salma of Morocco|Lalla Salma]], the title of princess; prior to his reign, the Moroccan monarchy had no such title. In [[Thailand]], the king and queen must both be of [[royal descent]]; his other consorts need not be royal before marriage to him but are accorded royal titles that confer status. A Zulu [[Inkosi|chieftain]] designates one of his wives as "[[Great Wife]]", an equivalent to queen consort.

The situation is more complex in [[Yorubaland]]. [[Olori|All of a chief's consorts]] are essentially of equal rank. Although one wife, usually the one married to the [[Oba (ruler)|chief]] for the longest time, may be given a [[chieftaincy]] of her own to highlight her relatively higher status compared to the other wives, she does not share her husband's ritual power as a chieftain. When a woman is to be vested with an authority similar to that of the chief, she is usually a [[Iyalode (title)|lady courtier]] in his service who, although not married to him, is expected to lead his female subjects on his behalf.

In the [[Ottoman Empire]], ''[[haseki sultan]]'' ({{langx|ota|حاصكي سلطان}}; ''Ḫāṣekī Sulṭān;'' {{IPA|tr|haseˈci suɫˈtaːn}}) was the title held by the lawful wife and imperial consort of the [[List of sultans of the Ottoman Empire|sultan]].<ref name=Davis>{{cite book |title=The Ottoman Lady: A Social History from 1718 to 1918 |first=Fanny |last=Davis |year=1986 |isbn=0-313-24811-7 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DTIrK0et4LwC&q=pertevniyal&pg=PA11 |chapter=The Valide|publisher=Bloomsbury Academic }}</ref> The title was first used in the 16th century by [[Hurrem Sultan]], wife of [[Suleiman the Magnificent]], replacing the previous title of "[[Kadın (title)|Baş Kadın]] ("Head Lady").<ref name=Davis /> The bearer of the title occupied the second most important position in the Ottoman Empire for a female after [[valide sultan]] (queen mother).

While the wife of a king is usually given the title of queen, there is much less consistency for the husband of a [[queen regnant|reigning queen]]. The title of [[King Consort|king consort]] is rare. Examples are [[Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley]], in [[Scotland]] and [[Francis, Duke of Cádiz]], in [[Spain]]. [[Antoine of Navarre|Antoine of Bourbon-Vendôme]] in [[Navarre]] and [[Ferdinand II of Portugal|Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha]] in [[Portugal]] also gained the title. In Portugal, because of the practice of ''[[jure uxoris]]'', both King Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburgo-Gotha and his predecessor, King Pedro of Portugal, were treated as ruling kings in [[Protocol (diplomacy)|protocol]] and were thus symbolically co-rulers with their wives, but both really had only the same power of a consort and the queen was the real ruler.

The title of [[prince consort]] for the husband of a reigning queen is more common. The monarchies that adopted this title did so because the title of king is usually historically higher than queen, so when the sovereign is female, her husband should never have a higher title than her. An example is [[Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha]]. He married [[Queen Victoria]] of the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|United Kingdom]]; because she insisted that he be given a title identifying his status, he became [[Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha|Albert, Prince Consort]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Chancellor|first1=Frank B.|title=Prince Consort|date=1931|publisher=The Dial Press|location=New York|pages=215–218}}</ref>