Who's Who: Famous Queens Trivia Quiz

Answer: Cleopatra

Cleopatra VII, the last pharaoh to rule Ancient Egypt, was a member of the Ptolemy Dynasty. Originally married to her brother, Ptolemy XIII, she famously is said to have met Julius Caesar by having herself rolled up in a carpet and delivered to him! After his death, she became involved with another Roman, Marc Antony; this relationship signaled the beginning of the end of dynastic rule in ancient Egypt. After losing the Battle of Actium against the army of Octavian, both Cleopatra and Marc Antony committed suicide. After that, Egypt became part of the Roman Empire.

Answer: Victoria

Victoria became Queen of England after the death of her uncle, William IV in 1837. She was only eighteen years old at the time, and twenty when she married Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Victoria is often called the "Grandmother of Europe" because her nine children married royal spouses throughout the continent. Known for a long period of peace and prosperity, the Victorian Era in England was a time of colonial expansion and industrial development. Victoria and Albert's oldest son, Edward VII, became king at the time of her death; in addition, she is the great-great-grandmother of both Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip.

Answer: Marie Antoinette

Marie Antoinette was the daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Francis I and Empress Maria Theresa. When Marie was fifteen years old, she was married to the dauphin of France, Louis, and became Queen of France four years later. Very unpopular with the French people due in part to her spending habits and snobbish personality, Marie was executed during the French Revolution nine months after her husband.

Answer: Catherine the Great

Originally Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst of Prussia, Catherine was married when she was sixteen years old to the Grand Duke Peter of Russia, who eventually became Czar Peter III. Unpopular with his people, Peter was overthrown with the intention of making their son, Paul, Czar with Catherine as Paul's regent.

Instead, Catherine took control of the government and became Czarina in her own right, ruling for thirty-four years before Paul I became her successor.

Answer: Wu Zetian

By the time Wu Zetian, a well-educated girl from a wealthy family, was fourteen years old, she was a concubine to the Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty. When he died, however, she married one of his sons, Emperor Gaozong, and became Empress; after her husband died, she served as regent for her young son.

She eventually directed her son to step down as emperor, and became the ruler in her own right, beginning the Zhou Dynasty. During her reign, Wu Zetian expanded the borders of China, lowered taxes for peasants, and built new public works.

Her son eventually became emperor upon her death and reinstated the Tang Dynasty. Wu Zetian was the only female emperor to rule China.

Answer: Liliʻuokalani

The only Hawaiian Queen to rule in her own right, Liliʻuokalani was the daughter of a high ranking Hawaiian chief, Caesar Kapaʻakea. As was tradition among the Hawaiian nobility, she was adopted and raised by other chiefs in order to reinforce ties with high ranking families.

In 1862 she married John Owen Dominis, who was the son of a ship's captain; he would later serve as an official in Hawaii's government. Her brother, King Kalakaua, named Liliʻuokalani as his heir, and she became Queen after his death in 1891; the king, however, had been a poor ruler.

He had allowed foreign businessmen to take control of many of the lucrative businesses in Hawaii and signed agreements that reduced his power. Liliʻuokalani reigned as Queen for only two years before being overthrown in a coup.

Answer: Meishō

From 1629-1643 Empress Meishō ruled as the 109th imperial ruler of Japan. She became Empress at the age of five after the abdication of her father, Emperor Go-Mizunoo. Although she had the title Empress, in reality Japan was ruled by shoguns, or military governors, and the king or queen was mostly a figurehead.

After serving for fifteen years as Empress, she abdicated in favor of a half-brother, Kōmyō. Meishō lived into her seventies, but never married or served in the government again.

Answer: Isabella

One of the most powerful women of her time, Isabella of Castile married Ferdinand II of Aragon, which united Spain under one rule. It is said that her offer to sell her jewelry to finance the voyage of Christopher Columbus sparked the Age of Exploration.

The couple, commonly called the Catholic Monarchs, are also known for completing the Reconquista, which drove all Jews and Muslims who refused to convert to Christianity from Spain. Isabella's daughter, Catherine of Aragon, would become famous for another reason; she was the first wife of Henry VIII of England, and the mother of Mary I, who is also called Bloody Mary.

Answer: Maria Theresa

Maria Theresa was not just the only female Habsburg ruler, she was also the last Habsburg ruler. She was the heir of her father, Charles VI; he had worked hard to make sure that a woman could inherit his lands by passing the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713.

Some of the regions of the empire, however, refused to accept the edict and fought the War of the Austrian Succession in order to overthrow her reign. Although Empress in her own right, Maria Theresa also became Holy Roman Empress when she married Francis I. Together they had sixteen children; one was the infamous Marie Antoinette who married Louis XVI of France.

Answer: Mary

The daughter of King James V of Scotland, Mary became Queen of Scotland when she was six days old. At one time she was also Queen of France; however, after her husband, Francis II, died she returned to Scotland, where she was not very popular. She married again to Henry Darnley, who was the father of Mary's son and heir, the future James VI of Scotland and James I of England.

After marrying her third husband, Mary was forced to abdicate the throne of Scotland, and sought refuge from her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I of England.

She participated in many palace intrigues, and Mary was beheaded in 1587 for plotting to kill her cousin.