If you think the kids in your family are a lot to handle, imagine having over a dozen of them! That was the reality for the royal women in today’s video. The primary expectation of Queens and other well born women of the past was to have as many children as possible to secure their husband’s dynasty and bare a few spares to be used in advantageous political marriages. Their fertility was their life. They were married early and caught on a treadmill of pregnancy, birth, handing their babies over to be raised by wet-nurses and tutors, and hoping back into bed to conceive again as soon as possible. Surely they looked forward to the relief of menopause. Here are 9 Queens and Empresses who bore an extraordinary number of children:

Mumtaz Mahal, Mughal Empress Consort - 14 Children

Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Queen Consort of Great Britain & Ireland - 15 Children

Anna Jagellonica, Queen Consort of Germany, Bohemia & Hungary - 15 Children

Eleanor of Castile, Queen Consort of England - 16 Children

Keran, Queen Consort of Armenia - 16 Children

Maria Theresa, Holy Roman Empress - 16 Children

Maria Carolina of Austria, Queen Consort of Naples and Sicily - 17 Children

Anne, Queen of Great Britain - 18 Children

Darejan Dadiani, Queen Consort of Georgia - 23 Children

Maria Theresa's Daughters: https://youtu.be/vlLI1bp6BeA

https://youtu.be/mtvFd_ciI5Y

Maria Theresa's Sons: https://youtu.be/S1lp9qMACfo

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Intro Music: Baroque Coffee House by Doug Maxwell

Music: Butterflies in Love by Sir Cubworth

Angevin - Thatched Villagers by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

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