Jure uxoris

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Jure uxoris is a Latin term that means "in right of a wife." It is commonly used to refer to a title held by a man whose wife holds it in her own right.

The husband of an heiress became the possessor of her lands (and titles) jure uxoris, "in right of his wife". In the Middle Ages, this was invariably true even for queens regnant and princesses regnant. Accordingly, the husband of the reigning female monarch became monarch. In some cases, the king thus ascended, remained king even after the death of the wife, and in some cases left the kingdom to their own heirs who were not issue of the wife in question (cf Władysław II Jagiełło of Poland, ascended as husband of Queen Jadwiga). In the event of a divorce between a reigning female monarch and her husband, the husband would remain the monarch and the wife would lose her status. One example of this is when Marie of Boulogne and Matthew I of Boulogne were divorced in 1170. Marie ceased to be Countess, while Matthew I continued to reign until 1173.

Later, the woman remained the monarch, but the husband had some power. For example, Maria Theresa of Austria was queen regnant of Hungary and Bohemia, but her husband Francis was king consort.

In Portugal, there were specific conditions to a male consort could be a jure uxoris king: to bear a royal heir. It happened twice, first in the late 18th Century, when the Queen Maria I of Portugal, who started reigning in 1777, gave to her husband (and uncle) the right to reign with her.

In 1836, Queen Maria II of Portugal married her second husband, Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Ferdinand became jure uxoris monarch the next year (in 1837), as soon as their first child was born, and he reigned as Ferdinand II, together with his wife. Queen Maria's first husband, Auguste of Beauharnais, was not jure uxoris monarch, because he died before he could bear an heir.

They are not to be confused with kings consort, who were merely consorts of their wives, not co-rulers.