Queens consort, cultural transfer and European politics, c. 1500-1800 / edited by Helen Watanabe-O'Kelly and Adam Morton.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction: Politics, culture and queens consort / Adam Morton -- Art collections as dynastic tool : the Jagiellonian princesses Katarzyna, Queen of Sweden, and Zofia, Duchess of Braunschweig-Wolfenb�uttel / Almut Bues -- The consort in the theatre of power : Maria Amalia of Saxony, Queen of the Two Sicilies, Queen of Spain / Helen Watanabe-O'Kelly -- The "two bodies" of the female sovereign : awkward hierarchies in images of Empress Maria Theresia, Catherine the Great of Russia and their male consorts / Christina Strunck -- Luise Ulrike of Prussia, Queen of Sweden, and the search for political space / Elise Dermineur and Svante Norrhem -- Marriage in a global context : Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Queen of Great Britain and Ireland / Clarissa Campbell Orr -- Dynastic positioning and political newsgathering : Hedwig Eleonora of Schleswig-Gottorf, Queen of Sweden, and her correspondence / Jill Bepler -- Greeting the Stuart queens consort : cultural exchange and the nuptial texts for Henrietta Maria of France and Catherine of Braganza, queens of Britain / Anna-Marie Linnell -- Sanctity and suspicion : catholicism, conspiracy and the representation of Henrietta Maria of France and Catherine of Braganza, queens of Britain / Adam Morton -- Four weddings and five funerals : dynastic integration and cultural transfer between the Houses of Braunschweig and Brandenburg in the eighteenth century / Thomas Biskup -- Afterword: Queens consort, cultural transfer and European politics / Helen Watanabe-O'Kelly.

"This volume assesses the roles played by queens consort in early modern politics. It does so in three ways. First, it analyses the specific forms of influence which they wielded. Second, it posits a new vocabulary with which to conduct that analysis, suggesting that the strict divide between categories of 'hard' and 'soft' power--or 'high' politics (policy, diplomacy, ideology) and cultural influences (making a political impact through the arts)--with which scholars approach the political role of queens is anachronistic in the context of the courts in which they lived and operated. Third, it considers the extent to which the root of consorts' power lay within their dynastic networks"--Provided by publisher.