Elizabeth was baptised on 10 September ; Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, the Marquess of Exeter, the Duchess of Norfolk and the Dowager Marchioness of Dorset stood as her four godparents.

Lord Peter's was born the second of the three children of Mortimer Wimsey, 15th Duke of Denver, and Honoria Lucasta Delagardie, who lives on throughout the novels as the Dowager Duchess of Denver.

After sharing what the Dowager Duchess referred to as " a jam ", the two arranged that if they were both to survive the war, Bunter would become Wimsey's valet.

Bunter arrived and, with the approval of the Dowager Duchess, took up his post as valet.

The 1986 NBC-TV miniseries Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna, in which Olivia de Havilland portrays the Dowager Empress, represents the latter as considering a personal meeting with Anna Anderson, the woman who claimed to be the Grand Duchess Anastasia.

Joachim ( 1505 – 1571 ), the future elector of Brandenburg, was the eldest son and heir of their current claimant of Luxembourg, Joachim I, Elector of Brandenburg ( 1484 – 1535 ), the eldest son and heir of the late Margaret of Thuringia ( 1449 – 1501 ), Dowager Electress of Brandenburg, herself the eldest daughter and heiress of Anna, Duchess of Luxembourg and William of Saxony, Landgrave of Thuringia.

In 1744 Pitt received a large boost to his personal fortune when the Dowager Duchess of Marlborough died leaving him a legacy of £ 10, 000 as an " acknowledgment of the noble defence he had made for the support of the laws of England and to prevent the ruin of his country ".

* March 31 – Deborah Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, English Dowager Duchess

* Empress Wang is given the title of Duchess Dowager of Ding ' an, while Emperor Ruzi of Han, the former Emperor of Han becomes the Duke of Ding ' an.

Another exception was made in the case of the last royal princess to marry into the British Royal Family: Princess Marina who, being a Princess of Greece and Denmark by birth, reverted to her own princely style (" HRH Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent ") after being widowed, rather than take up the traditional style " HRH The Dowager Duchess of Kent ".

Her sister-in-law ( born The Lady Alice Montagu Douglas Scott ) was given special dispensation by HM The Queen to use a similar style when she was widowed (" HRH Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester ") despite not being a princess by birth, rather than the more usual widow's style, " HRH The Dowager Duchess of Gloucester ".

He later entertained thoughts of remarriage in order to renew the alliance with Spain-Joan, Dowager Queen of Naples ( niece of Ferdinand II of Aragon ), Joanna, Queen of Castile ( daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella ), and Margaret, Dowager Duchess of Savoy ( sister-in-law of Joanna of Castile ) were all considered-but Henry died a widower in 1509.

During the Delicate Investigation, Caroline was not permitted to see her daughter, and afterwards her visits were essentially restricted to once a week and only in the presence of Caroline's own mother, the Dowager Duchess of Brunswick.

He fled to Burgundy, where Warwick's aunt Margaret of York, the Dowager Duchess of Burgundy, kept her court.

She held the titles Duchess of York, Princess of Wales, Queen-Empress and Queen-Empress Dowager.

On her way north to Scotland Ralph Sadler conveyed her through Hertfordshire, and she stopped at Robert Chester's house at Royston Priory and the house of the Dowager Duchess of Suffolk at Grimsthorpe Castle near Stamford.

In 1469, her brother, Edward IV, attempted to present Charles the Bold with the Order of the Garter, an honour which would have made Charles guilty of treason against Louis XI had he accepted it ; although the Dowager Duchess Isabel warned her son to refuse the offer, which he did, giving Louis XI an excuse for further machinations against Burgundy.

But the next year, Margaret was left despairing when Clarence and Warwick supported a French-backed Lancastrian invasion of England: although she, together with her mother Cecily, Dowager Duchess of York, attempted to reconcile Clarence and Edward IV, the rebellion continued, and on 2 October 1470 the Lancastrians were returned to power and Edward had fled to Margaret and Charles in Burgundy.

The marriage of Charles VIII to Duchess Anne of Brittany had allowed the eventual return of his fiance, young Margaret, to Burgundy and the care of her step-grandmother the Dowager Duchess ; the Peace of Senlis, which returned her to her family, also returned her dowry of the Counties of Artois and Palatine Burgundy, and laid down that Duke Philip would take up personal rule in the following year when he reached age 16.

* 1898 – The Hundred Days ' Reform is started by Guangxu Emperor with a plan to change social, political and educational institutions in China, but is suspended by Empress Dowager Cixi after 104 days.

There is no evidence that the Empress Dowager ever had such an intention ( or indeed that she had ever been requested to grant an audience to the woman ).

The acocryphal tale that the large pearl on Empress Dowager Cixi's crown ended up on Madame Chiang's gala shoes is described in Bertolucci's film The Last Emperor.

The widowed Vicky becomes the Dowager Empress as is known as " Empress Frederick ".

* 1093: when the Chinese Empress Dowager Gao dies, the conservative faction that had followed Sima Guang is ousted from court, the liberal reforms of Wang Anshi reinstated, and Emperor Zhezong of Song halted all negotiations with the Tanguts of the Western Xia, resuming in armed conflict with them.

* September 21 – Empress Dowager Cixi of China engineers a coup d ' etat, marking the end of the Hundred Days ' Reform ; the Guangxu Emperor is arrested.

* Emperor Ping of Han China begins his reign and Wang Mang is re-instated as regent by Grand Empress Dowager Wang.

While typically employed by commoners, the water pipe is known to have been preferred by Empress Dowager Cixi over snuff bottles or other methods of intake.

It is thought that, in 1533, Catherine spent her time with the widow of her cousin Sir Walter Strickland, the Dowager Lady Strickland, Catherine Neville at the Strickland's family residence of Sizergh Castle in Westmorland ( now Cumbria ).

Wang Mang is appointed regent by the Grand Empress Dowager Wang.

At Tours in May, a cynical English observer, John Mason, who scanned the Scottish retinue for signs of dissent, reported, " the Dowager of Scotland maketh all this court weary of her, such an importunate beggar is she for herself.

The nineteenth-century coach used by the Dowager Duchess and the late Duke at the Queen's Coronation is on display there.

The present Dowager Duchess is a keen advocate of rural life, and in 1973 the Chatsworth Farmyard exhibit was opened in the old building yard above the stables.

There is also a line of Chatsworth branded foods, endorsed with the Dowager Duchess's signature, which is available by mail order.

Out on the front lines, Nicholas is visited by his mother the Dowager Empress Maria Foeodorovna ( Irene Worth ), ( who is very outspokenly critical of her son's lack of leadership abilities ), who scolds him about not attending to crumbling domestic issues and implores him to eliminate Rasputin ( as well as to send Alexandra away to one of the royal palaces out of sight ).

Chatsworth House is the main family seat and the home of the Dowager Duchess.

On his father's deathbed, his mother, then-Empress Dowager Zita, told the 9-year-old, " your father is now sleeping the eternal sleep — you are now Emperor and King ".

In 1196 Philip became duke of Swabia, on the death of his brother Conrad ; and in May 1197 he married the Dowager Queen of Sicily, Irene Angelina, daughter of the Byzantine emperor Isaac II and widow of King Roger III of Sicily, a lady who is described by Walther von der Vogelweide as " the rose without a thorn, the dove without guile ".

He is also careful to balance the negative with the positive, for example, in the biography of Empress Dowager Lu which contains lurid accounts of her cruelty, he pointed out at the end that, whatever her personal life may have been, her rule brought peace and prosperity to the country.

Empress Dowager Yoshikō is also entombed at this Imperial mausoleum complex.

After Grand Empress Dowager Feng re-assumed regency, she was said to be more dictatorial than she was before, but intelligent in her decisions and frugal in her living.

Empress Dowager Cixi, on the other hand, was a shrewd and intelligent woman who was ready to make sacrifices and work hard in order to obtain the supreme power, and who faced the complex problems that were besetting China at the time.

Less than three months after Xiao Zhaowen became emperor, Xiao Luan issued an edict in the name of Xiao Zhangmao's wife Empress Dowager Wang Baoming, stating that Xiao Zhaowen was not sufficiently intelligent and healthy to be emperor, giving the throne to Xiao Luan, who then took the throne as Emperor Ming.

However, it is the opinion of Lord Peter ’ s mother, the Dowager Duchess that " It ’ s that wonderful man of his who keeps him in order ... so intelligent ... a perfect autocrat.