For these reasons, Matilda was of grander birth than William, who was illegitimate, and, according to some more romantic tellings of the story, she initially refused his proposal on this account.

Like many royal marriages of the period, it breached the rules of consanguinity, then at their most restrictive (to seven generations or degrees of relatedness); Matilda and William were third-cousins once removed.

The boys were tutored by the Italian Lanfranc, who was made Archbishop of Canterbury in 1070, while the girls learned Latin in Sainte-Trinité Abbey in Caen, founded by William and Matilda as part of the papal dispensation allowing their marriage.

There were rumours that Matilda had been in love with the English ambassador to Flanders and with the great Anglo-Saxon thegn Brictric, son of Algar, who (according to the account by the Continuator of Wace and others[5]) in his youth declined her advances.

[10][11] Naturally, Baldwin took offence at this; but, before they could draw swords, Matilda settled the matter[12] by refusing to marry anyone but William.

[13] Historians have regarded the tale as more fictional than historical; the marriage itself may in fact have been arranged by William and Baldwin, as both would have welcomed an alliance between Flanders and Normandy.

[14][15] William and Matilda were married after a delay in c. 1051–2,[16] despite a papal ban by Pope Leo IX at the Council of Reims on the grounds of consanguinity.

[23] Even after William conquered England and became its king, she delayed her visit to her new kingdom until she could be crowned on Pentecost (Whit Sunday) in 1068, almost two years after it was won.

[24][25] Despite William's conquest, she spent most of her time in Normandy, governing the duchy, supporting her brother's interests in Flanders, and sponsoring ecclesiastic houses there.

[26] She arrived in England in April 1068 and was crowned alongside William, who was re-crowned at the same time in order to demand the court's respect.

[29] For many years it was thought that Matilda had some involvement in the creation of the Bayeux Tapestry (commonly called La Tapisserie de la Reine Mathilde in French), but historians no longer believe that; it seems to have been commissioned by William's half-brother Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, and made by English artists in Kent.

Her daughters were educated and taught to read Latin at Sainte-Trinité in Caen, founded by Matilda and William in response to the recognition of their marriage.

Of particular interest is the 11th-century slab, a sleek black ledger stone decorated with her epitaph, marking her grave at the rear of the church.