A queen weds in Cyprus and another queen is embarrassed in Houston

I am playing hooky again while the Deadline Dragon naps. I have a historical happening to post and I also have a video of the Mother of Dragons, AKA Emilia Clarke, being honored and embarrassed at the Warriors-Rockets game in Houston last week. It is sure to make you all smile (even you hold-outs who’ve never seen her dragons in action) and since I suspect few Game of Thrones fans will find much to smile about after tonight’s finale, I wanted to give you one last opportunity for carefree laughter untainted by disappointment or anger with the HBO writers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tx8p0...
On the historical front, May 12, 1191 was the date of the marriage of Richard of England and Berengaria of Navarre. I’ve said before that I was surprised to find that the marriage seemed to get off to a promising start given its sad ending, but they were polar opposites in so many ways and that rarely makes for a long and happy marriage. I had fun writing these Lionheart scenes, though, as Richard ambushes the women with his nonchalant suggestion that he and Berengaria wed that weekend. In his best oblivious mode, he cannot understand why Joanna is so dismayed. When she demands to know how they could possibly pull off a royal wedding in just a few days, he casually counters,
“How hard could it be? I assume Berenguela did not intend to get married stark naked, so she must have a suitable gown in her coffers. I thought we’d have her coronation at the same time.” Richard glanced over at his mute betrothed and smiled. “I daresay you’ll be the first and the last Queen of England ever to be crowned in Cyprus, little dove.”
And in that, he was right. She was.
Ironically, although I don’t think she found much happiness in marriage to Richard, he bestowed some of his own celebrity status upon her. Just as he is one of the best known medieval kings, she is better known than many of the other women who wed English kings. How many of them have a street in a French city named after them? Or how many were portrayed in a Hollywood film in which she snatches Richard’s sword and refuses to give it back as he is about to rush off to fight the Saracens? I have my friend Owen to thank for calling this to my attention, since I’ve not seen this epic for myself; he says she also scolds him as “Dick Plantagenet” and that alone would be worth the price of admission.