virgin queen
Unbred hive heir
A virgin queen is a young queen bee that has not yet mated.
After emerging from her cell, she must leave the hive on mating flights before she can begin laying fertilized eggs.
A hive with a virgin queen is in transition—if mating fails, the colony cannot sustain itself.
The term also refers to Queen Elizabeth I of England, who famously never married: The Virgin Queen ruled for forty-five years.
- maidenUnmarried young woman
- beeStinging nectar gatherer
- hiveBee dwelling structure
- ElizabethFeminine given name
- honeycombWax matrix of hexagons
bee colony · swarm · unmated · coronation · Tudor · royal jelly · monarch · chaste · pure · colony · throne · mating · England · Golden Age · Spanish Armada · royal court · worker · brood
- beekeepingbeekeeping, apiculture, beehive, hive, apiary
- Tudor EraHenry VIII, Elizabeth I, Anne Boleyn, Catherine of Aragon, Jane Seymour
- bee swarmingbee colony
- insect castesworker bee, worker ant, soldier ant, drone bee, worker
- puritypure, purity, pristine, spotless, spotlessness
virgin queenqueen consort
King's wife by marriage
queen mother · Mary Queen of Scots · Catherine the Great · Henry VIII · Cleopatra
virgin, queen, virginal, virginity, virgins, queens, queenly, queenship, queening