Emma of Normandy

Emma, daughter of Norman ruler Richard the Fearless, became Queen of England in 1002 when she married the Anglo-Saxon King Æthelred the Unready. After Æthelred died in 1016, she married his conqueror: the Danish King Cnut the Great, who had seized the English throne. Through that second marriage she was Queen of England from 1017, Queen of Denmark from 1018, and Queen of Norway from 1028 until Cnut's death in 1035. When Cnut died, Emma acted as regent for their son Harthacnut while he remained in Denmark, navigating a power struggle with Harold Harefoot. She remained active in politics through the reigns of both her sons - Harthacnut by Cnut and Edward the Confessor by Æthelred. She is the central figure of the Encomium Emmae Reginae, a critical source for early 11th-century English politics, and one of the most visually represented queens of the early medieval period.