Arwa al-Sulayhi of Yemen was queen consort from 1067 until his death in 1084, holding increasing power as he retreated from public life due to paralysation. At her husband’s death, she became regent for their son Ali Abd al-Mustansir until his death in 1094, and became queen in her own right.
Ruler and military leader of Jhansi who fought British imperialism
In 1920, Lillian Gish both delivered a landmark performance in D.W. Griffith’s Way Down East and directed her sister Dorothy in Remodelling Her Husband. This was her sole director credit in a career as a screen actor that began with An Unseen Enemy in 1912 and ended with The Whales of August in 1987.
Queen of the United Kingdom
American-Irish science fiction and fantasy writer
After losing her husband to suicide during his battle with tuberculosis, Josephine undertook an extensive rebuilding of his winery and oversaw the very first harvest. She kept the business alive until 1895 when she decided to sell it to the then burgeoning giant Italian Swiss Colony. The winery, located near St. Helena, still stands today as part of Freemark Abbey Wines.
Eliza Shaw Hood, Ellen Stuart, and Kate Warfield all hailed from Glen Ellen. All three lived and worked near one another, and all three took over the wineries owned by their respective husbands in the late 1870s and early 1880s.
Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia
For patriotic service, a keen sense of diplomacy and an astonishing ability of conducting affairs of the state of the greatest importance the fame of Zrinyi Ilona outshines completely the brilliant array of Hungary’s great women.
German astronomer