Page:William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England (3rd ed, 1768, vol I).djvu/240

224 dety. If however the queen be accued of any pecies of treaon, he hall (whether conort or dowager) be tried by the houe of peers, as queen Ann Boleyn was in 28 Hen. VIII. huband of a queen regnant, as prince George of Denmark was to queen Anne, is her ubject; and may be guilty of high treaon againt her: but, in the intance of conjugal fidelity, he is not ubjected to the ame penal retrictions. For which the reaon eems to be, that, if a queen conort is unfaithful to the royal bed, this may debae or batardize the heirs to the crown; but no uch danger can be conequent on the infidelity of the huband to a queen regnant. dowager is the widow of the king, and as uch enjoys mot of the privileges belonging to her as queen conort. But it is not high treaon to conpire her death; or to violate her chatity, for the ame reaon as was before alleged, becaue the ucceion to the crown is not thereby endangered. Yet till, , no man can marry a queen dowager without pecial licence from the king, on pain of forfeiting his lands and goods. This ir Edward Coke tells us was enacted in parliament in 6 Hen. VI, though the tatute be not in print. But he, though an alien born, hall till be intitled to dower after the king’s demie, which no other alien is. A queen dowager, when married again to a ubject, doth not loe her regal dignity, as peerees dowager do their peerage when they marry commoners. For Katherine, queen dowager of Henry V, though he married a private gentleman, Owen ap Meredith ap Theodore, commonly called Owen Tudor; yet, by the name of Katherine queen of England, maintained an action againt the bihop of Carlile. And o the queen dowager of Navarre marrying with Edmond, brother to king Edward the firt, maintained an action of dower by the name of queen of Navarre.