Queen Adeliza: how one of the oldest royal names of all was first used by a Queen of England

 

Many royal names are so well known we reel them off without even thinking. Elizabeth, Mary, Anne and Catherine abound in royal history. But others are less usual. As Adelaide makes a reappearance as a royal name, thanks to the choice of Princess Eugenie and her husband, Jack Brooksbank, for their third child, a glance at the history books shows it's got a long and interesting story to tell. Queen Adelaide, wife of King William IV, is thought to be an inspiration for Princess Eugenie. But a variant of the name was first used by a Queen of England over 900 years ago. Here is the first queen to bring this unusual name into the top orbit. Meet Adeliza, Queen of England.

 Adeliza

Adeliza of Louvain 

Queen of England, 1121 - 1135

Adeliza of Louvain a is a forgotten queen whose tenure lasted over a decade. Her name is rather striking although when we take it down to its roots, it's another Adela/ Adelaide/ Adelheid type name that crops up far more than imagined in royal history.  

Adeliza was wife number two of Henry number one and the first proper royal baby making machine.  Henry married her in 1121 just after the death of his only male legitimate heir, William, in the White Ship disaster.  The great king only had a daughter to leave his crown to so within months of William's loss, he had married young, pretty, healthy Adeliza.  And for the next fourteen years they tried to provide England with another heir.  But although Henry had had at least three children with his first wife and dozens of illegitimate children, no royal babies arrived. 

 

He died in 1135 and had that been the end of the story everyone could have blamed Adeliza and that would have been that.  But Adeliza claimed another first.  She was the first queen consort of England to remarry and in 1138 she married William d'Aubigny, one of Henry's main advisers.  The couple had seven children, the last born when the queen dowager was in her early forties.  She died in a convent in 1151.