ILLUSTRATIONS Alexandre Jubran
10. Mary Stuart
Country you ruled – Scotland
Period – 1542-1567
It had to fight a lot to stay in power. Enthroned at just a week old, she married Francis II and reigned in France at his side. When he died, she took the blame and fled to Scotland. She took over the country and went on to fight her cousin, Elizabeth I, Queen of England. She married twice more (the second, with the supposed murderer of her previous husband). Pursued by the nobility, she was arrested and fled again – to England, where she was sentenced to death.
9. Margaret Thatcher
country that ruled – UK
Period – 1979-1990
She was the only woman to become prime minister in the country. Nicknamed the “Iron Lady” and adept at drastic measures, she tried to fight inflation with less State intervention in the economy – but the more she hardened, the greater the crisis became. In three years of government, unemployment tripled and banks went bankrupt. It also withstood the Falklands War in 1982 and a terrorist attack in 1984.
8. Cleopatra
Country you ruled – Egypt
Period – 51 BC-30 BC
Her supposed beauty is pure invention, but her ability to seduce is not. The queen of the Nile learned early on to share a bed (and a throne) with anyone who guaranteed her power – including her own brother. She even moved to Rome to live with Julius Caesar and, after he was assassinated, she became involved with Mark Antony, another Roman leader. She killed herself with a viper bite at the age of 39, when she realized that she would not be able to seduce Octavius, the next person who could help her defend Egypt from total Roman control.
7. Catherine de Medici
ruled – Florence, Italy, and France
Period – 1547-1559
Daughter of Duke Lorenzo de Medici and niece of Pope Clement VI, she married Henry II, who took the French throne after his brother’s death. Until her death, in 1589, Catherine ruled in the shadow of her children, while they were not yet of age. It was enough time to cause several religious conflicts – among them, the historic Saint Bartholomew’s Night Massacre in 1572.
6. Wu Zetian
country that ruled – China
Period – 625-705
The only woman to become empress in China was born into an aristocratic birth, but she had to make it to the top. At the age of 13, she became Emperor Taizong’s concubine, and later became involved with his son, Gaozong. There are those who say that, after Gaozong’s death, she would have killed her own children, legitimate heirs to the throne, to reach power. Once in her command, intrigues were exchanged for a policy of openness: she chose intellectuals as advisers, encouraged agriculture, reduced taxes and thinned the army.
5. Anne Boleyn
country that ruled – England
Period – 1533-1536
King Henry VIII’s mistress had a short stint in the English monarchy, but shook the structures. Willing to do anything to keep her, with a single stroke of the pen Henrique “invented” a new church (the Anglican one, which allowed divorce) and caused a definitive split between England, the pope and the rest of Europe. Anne would reign for just a thousand days and end up imprisoned in the Tower of London, accused of treason and adultery.
4. Catherine the Great
country that ruled – Russia
Period – 1762-1796
Enchanted with Prussia (today Germany), Tsar Pedro III went to spend a season there, just six months after being crowned. He screwed up: he ended up suffering a “bloodless coup” that knocked him out and put his wife, of German origin, in control. Cultivated, a friend of thinkers like Voltaire and Diderot, Catherine conspired to remain on the throne until her son came of age. However, during this period, Russian society saw its social inequalities deepen.
3. Maria Theresa
country that ruled – Austria
Period – 1740-1780
A member of the Habsburg family, he took over the vast Holy Roman Empire after the death of his father, Charles VI. But he held back a firecracker: England, Spain and France did not recognize a woman in power and launched wars against her. Maria Teresa was tolerant with orthodox Catholics, reinforced the army and, above all, made her children marry the best of European nobility.
2. Elizabeth I
country that ruled– England
Period – 1558-1603
Daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, she was the last member of the Tudor dynasty in command of the country. And she steadfastly faced two major rivals: King Philip II of Spain, who had waged war on England with his legendary navy squadron, the Invincible Armada, and her cousin, Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, who wanted to overthrow her. Considered a national symbol of purity and political vision, Elizabeth was also a great patron of the arts. She made the so-called “Elizabethan theater” flourish – whose greatest name was William Shakespeare
1. Victory
countries that ruled – England, Ireland and India
Period – 1837-1901
There has never been a more appropriate name. Victoria had the longest reign England had ever seen – until Elizabeth II surpassed her in 2015 – in one of the best periods in the country, and, at the end of the 19th century, she became, through colonial expansion, also Empress of India. She ascended the throne at the age of 18 as the only heir in the family, and shortly after, she married her cousin, Prince Albert. Among her great accomplishments, she led the race to African and Asian colonies, forced the opening of ports in the Americas (to sell English industrial products) and supported the end of slavery. During her reign, England replaced France as the ultimate symbol of modernity and elegance.
• The criterion for setting up the ranking was the influence and power of the countries governed at the time they were in charge
• Would women be more popular than men? With the exception of Mary Stuart, none of these regents was deposed.