Queens in England Quiz

Question: Which queen consort invaded England with her lover and helped bring about the deposition and violent murder of her husband, King Edward II of England?

Answer: Isabella of France, queen consort of King Edward II of England, played a principal part in the deposition of the king in 1327 and his replacement with his son, Edward III. Isabella and her lover, Roger Mortimer of Wigmore, enjoyed a brief period of influence until 1330, when the young king asserted his independence by the arrest and execution of Mortimer.

Question: Upon which former prime minister’s tomb did Queen Victoria lay a wreath in memory of their friendship?

Answer: Benjamin Disraeli was a British statesman and novelist who was twice prime minister (1868, 1874–80) and who provided the Conservative Party with a twofold policy of Tory democracy and imperialism. He formed a strong cabinet and profited from the friendship of Queen Victoria, a political conservative who disliked Liberal Party leader William Gladstone. Disraeli treated her as a human being, whereas Gladstone treated her as a political institution. A few days after his burial in the family vault at Hughenden, she came to lay a wreath upon the tomb of her favourite prime minister.

Question: Which queen was known as “the Virgin Queen”?

Answer: Elizabeth I was known as “the Virgin Queen.” She was queen of England from 1558 to 1603.

Question: During which year did Elizabeth II become queen of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland?

Answer: Elizabeth II became the queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland on February 6, 1952. Her coronation was held at Westminster Abbey on June 2, 1953.

Question: Which staunch Puritan and principal secretary of Queen Elizabeth I uncovered a conspiracy against the queen involving Mary, Queen of Scots?

Answer: Sir Francis Walsingham was an English statesman and the principal secretary to Queen Elizabeth I from 1573 to 1590. He was a staunch Puritan who uncovered a number of dangerous Roman Catholic conspiracies against the queen. He uncovered Francis Throckmorton's plot—involving France and Spain—to free Elizabeth's prisoner, the Catholic Mary Stuart (Mary, Queen of Scots). In exposing the Babington plot three years later, he found a letter from Mary to Anthony Babington giving full support to a plan for the murder of Elizabeth. As a result, Mary was executed in February 1587, a course of action that Walsingham had advocated.

Question: Who led a formidable uprising against Queen Mary I of England?

Answer: Sir Thomas Wyatt the Younger was an English soldier and conspirator who led an unsuccessful rebellion against Queen Mary I, probably the most formidable uprising ever faced by a Tudor monarch.

Question: Who was the first queen of England to rule in her own right?

Answer: Mary I was the first queen to rule England in her own right. She reigned from 1553 to 1558. She was also known as Bloody Mary for her persecution of Protestants as she attempted to restore Roman Catholicism in England.

Question: Which queen was a leader of the Lancastrians in the Wars of the Roses?

Answer: Margaret of Anjou was the queen consort of England’s King Henry VI and a leader of the Lancastrians in the Wars of the Roses (1455–85) between the houses of York and Lancaster.

Question: To whom was Queen Victoria married?

Answer: Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha was married to Queen Victoria of Great Britain.