Monday, May 2, 2011  Consort Profile: Empress Mathilde, Lady of
the English  Most people remember Mary Tudor as the first Queen
regnant of England, and officially this is so. However, long
before there was a Tudor dynasty there was another woman who
tried to be or who should have been the reigning Queen of
England. Her story begins with that of her father King Henry I
of the Norman line. Henry was not an oppressive king but he was
certainly less than successful at the royal duty of securing the
succession. He had eight or more mistresses by whom he fathered
around twenty five illegitimate children but of legitimate
offspring who could succeed him he only managed to produce one
boy and one girl: Prince William and Princess Matilda. This left
little room for tragedy and in 1120 tragedy occurred when Prince
William drowned in the Channel. This left King Henry with only
his daughter Matilda to succeed him.  Matilda, who had been
married to the Holy Roman Emperor Henry V of Germany, was made
heiress and the King o