Queen mother

[1] It arises in hereditary monarchies in Europe and is also used to describe a number of similar yet distinct monarchical concepts in non-European cultures around the world.

In many countries, such as the United Kingdom, a monarch loses the title of king or queen after abdication.

[3] For example, Juliana of the Netherlands, who abdicated in favor of her daughter Beatrix, was sometimes colloquially referred to as the queen mother despite declining the title and having reverted to being a princess.

[11] In India, a queen (usually styled rani, or in the Muslim tradition, begum) who becomes queen-mother was known in Sanskrit and Hindi as a rajamata - literally, mother of the king/monarch.

In many matrilineal societies of West Africa, such as the Ashanti, the queen mother is the one through whom royal descent is reckoned and thus wields considerable power.

One of the greatest leaders of Ashanti was Nana Yaa Asantewaa (1840–1921), who led her subjects against the British Empire during the War of the Golden Stool in 1900.

In more symbolically driven societies such as the kingdoms of the Yoruba peoples, the queen mother may not even be a blood relative of the reigning monarch.

She could be a female individual of any age who is vested with the ritual essence of the departed queens in a ceremonial sense, and who is practically regarded as the monarch's mother as a result.

A good example of this is Oloye Erelu Kuti I of Lagos, who has been seen as the iya oba or queen mother of every succeeding king of that realm, due to the activities of the three successors to her noble title that have reigned since her demise.

The following individuals hold a similar role as mothers or fathers of their country's reigning monarchs: