Page:William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England (3rd ed, 1768, vol I).djvu/240

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224
The Rights
Book I.

deſty. If however the queen be accuſed of any ſpecies of treaſon, ſhe ſhall (whether conſort or dowager) be tried by the houſe of peers, as queen Ann Boleyn was in 28 Hen. VIII.

The huſband of a queen regnant, as prince George of Denmark was to queen Anne, is her ſubject; and may be guilty of high treaſon againſt her: but, in the inſtance of conjugal fidelity, he is not ſubjected to the ſame penal reſtrictions. For which the reaſon ſeems to be, that, if a queen conſort is unfaithful to the royal bed, this may debaſe or baſtardize the heirs to the crown; but no ſuch danger can be conſequent on the infidelity of the huſband to a queen regnant.

A queen dowager is the widow of the king, and as ſuch enjoys moſt of the privileges belonging to her as queen conſort. But it is not high treaſon to conſpire her death; or to violate her chaſtity, for the ſame reaſon as was before alleged, becauſe the ſucceſſion to the crown is not thereby endangered. Yet ſtill, pro dignitate regali, no man can marry a queen dowager without ſpecial licence from the king, on pain of forfeiting his lands and goods. This ſir Edward Coke[1] tells us was enacted in parliament in 6 Hen. VI, though the ſtatute be not in print. But ſhe, though an alien born, ſhall ſtill be intitled to dower after the king’s demiſe, which no other alien is[2]. A queen dowager, when married again to a ſubject, doth not loſe her regal dignity, as peereſſes dowager do their peerage when they marry commoners. For Katherine, queen dowager of Henry V, though ſhe married a private gentleman, Owen ap Meredith ap Theodore, commonly called Owen Tudor; yet, by the name of Katherine queen of England, maintained an action againſt the biſhop of Carliſle. And ſo the queen dowager of Navarre marrying with Edmond, brother to king Edward the firſt, maintained an action of dower by the name of queen of Navarre[3].

  1. 2 Inſt. 18. See Riley’s Plac. Parl. 672.
  2. Co. Litt. 31.
  3. 2 Inſt. 50.
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