But this, then, could cause confusion when using that title when referring to foreign queens consort (e.g. "REINE D'ANGLETERRE"). After all, it might have led to ideas that perhaps the husbands of (say) Anne and Victoria were kings. The English themselves, of course, didn't need to worry about any ambiguity in using the umbrella term QUEEN -- since it was always understood in context which type it was. Neither Prince George of Denmark nor Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was ever styled by the title of KING.
Now to be sure, the husband of Queen Mary I Tudor of England WAS a king: Felipe II of Spain. So was the husband of Queen Mary II Stuart: William of Orange, a first cousin who helped his wife depose her father during the Glorious Revolution. Because of his marriage and relationship (close in the royal succession), and role in that event, he and she became joint monarchs.
Otherwise, I'm aware that the various royal houses understand, accept, and respect each other's differences when it comes to marriage and succession laws. WHY, for instance, has it been necessary to stress that in FRANCE, bound by the Salic law, a king's daughter cannot succeed her father by inheriting the throne in her own right, even if she has no brothers -- other than the awareness that some of the other countries (e.g. neighbor Spain and nearby Portugal) did allow such a thing? 
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The fact that France applied the salic law and every french queen was necessarily a consorte-queen, did not prevent for recognizing Regnant queens in other countries.
Isabel was Reine de Castille et León and consorte queen of Aragon.
Of course they recognized the english Mary I and II, Elisabeth I and II, Anne or Victoria as QUEENS.
The same way they recognized their consorte-queen Mary Stuart as The Queen of Scotland.
Maria Theresia as Queen of Hungary and Bohemia.
Maria I and II of Portugal, etc.
Regnant queens from outside France were "just" Queens or the Queen of ...
Don't know if, today, the french protocol refers in a different manner Elizabeth II or Margreth II from Mathilde, Silvia or Maxima.
If any of these 3 ladies would pay an official visit to France without their husbands (if consorte queens can pay official visits) I suppose the Élysée would say The Queen of the Belgians, The Queen of Sweden or The Queen of the Netherlands. Previous Message
This may be a somewhat stupid question; but what title has she been historically referred to in the French language? The reason for my asking is that since the Salic law has always applied to the succession in France, the term QUEEN REGNANT obviously cannot exist in the vocabulary. The only type of queen possible in the country is the wife or widow of a king (it goes without saying that all dowager queens, queen mothers, and queen regents are former queens consort).
If, for instance, Isabel was referred to as "Reine", would this not have led to a misconception that she was not a sovereign -- i.e. somebody who occupied a throne in her own right (and even ruled, since this was during a time when monarchs wielded genuine political powers)? It might have even led the French people to think that she was only the wife of a king -- granted that her husband was King Fernando II of Aragon.
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on 2/4/2022, 4:12:51, in reply to "