Berengaria of Navarre Berengaria of Navarre ( , ; c . 1165 – 1170 – 23 December 1230 ) was Queen consort of England as the wife of Richard I of England . She was the eldest daughter of King Sancho VI of Navarre and Sancha of Castile . As is the case with many of the medieval queens consort of the Kingdom of England , relatively little is known of her life . The early 20th Century Cunard passenger liner RMS " Berengaria " was named in her honour , the first Cunard ship to be named for a British queen . Early years . In 1185 Berengaria was given the fief of Monreal by her father . Eleanor of Aquitaine promoted the engagement of Berengaria to her son King Richard the Lionheart . An alliance with Navarre meant protection for the southern borders of Aquitaine . Also , Navarre had assimilated the troubadour culture of Aquitaine and Berengaria ' s reputation was unbesmirched . It seems that Berengaria and Richard did in fact meet once , years before their marriage , and writers have claimed that there was an attraction between them at that time . In 1190 , Eleanor met Sancho in Pamplona and he hosted a banquet in the Palacio Real de Olite in her honour . The betrothal could not be celebrated openly , for Richard had been betrothed for many years to Princess Alys , sister of King Philip II of France . Richard terminated his betrothal to Alys in 1190 while at Messina . It has been suggested that Alys had become the mistress of Richard ' s own father , Henry II of England , and possibly the mother of an illegitimate child ; a marriage between Richard and Alys would therefore be technically impossible for religious reasons of affinity . Marriage . Richard had Berengaria brought to him by his mother Eleanor of Aquitaine . Since Richard was already on the Third Crusade , having wasted no time in setting off after his coronation , the two women had a long and difficult journey to catch up with him . They arrived at Messina in Sicily during Lent ( when the marriage could not take place ) in 1191 and were joined by Richard ' s sister Joan , the widowed Queen of Sicily . The two women became good friends and Berengaria was left in Joan ' s custody . En route to the Holy Land , the ship carrying Berengaria and Joan went aground off the coast of Cyprus , and they were threatened by the island ' s ruler , Isaac Comnenus . Richard came to their rescue , captured the island , and overthrew Comnenus . Berengaria married Richard the Lionheart on May 12 , 1191 in the Chapel of St George at Limassol on Cyprus , and was crowned the same day by the Archbishop of Bordeaux and Bishops of Évreux and Bayonne . Queen consort . Whether the marriage was ever even consummated is a matter for conjecture . In any case , Richard certainly took his new wife with him for the first part of the crusade . They returned separately , but Richard was captured and imprisoned . Berengaria remained in Europe , based at Beaufort - en - Vallee , attempting to raise money for his ransom . After his release , Richard returned to England and was not joined by his wife . When Richard returned to England , he had to regain all the territory that had either been lost by his brother John or taken by King Philip of France . His focus was on his kingdom , not his queen . Richard was ordered by Pope Celestine III to reunite with Berengaria and to show fidelity to her in the future . Richard obeyed and took Berengaria to church every week thereafter . When he died in 1199 , she was greatly distressed , perhaps more so at being deliberately overlooked as Queen of England and Cyprus . Some historians believe that Berengaria honestly loved her husband , while Richard ' s feelings for her were merely formal , as the marriage was a political rather than a romantic union . Queen dowager . Berengaria never visited England during King Richard ' s lifetime ; during the entirety of their marriage , Richard spent less than six months in England . There is evidence , however , that she may have done so in the years following his death . The traditional description of her as " the only English queen never to set foot in the country " would still be literally true , as she did not visit England during the time she was Richard ' s consort . She certainly sent envoys to England several times , mainly to inquire about the pension she was due as dowager queen and Richard ' s widow , which King John failed to pay . Although Queen Eleanor intervened and Pope Innocent III threatened him with an interdict if he did not pay Berengaria what was due , King John still owed her more than £4000 when he died . During the reign of his son Henry III of England , however , her payments were made as they were supposed to be . Berengaria eventually settled in Le Mans , one of her dower properties . She was a benefactress of the abbey of L ' Épau in Le Mans , entered the conventual life , and was buried in the abbey . A skeleton thought to be hers was rediscovered in 1960 during the restoration of the abbey . These remains are preserved beneath the stone effigy of the queen , which is now to be found in the chapter house of the abbey . In fiction . Novels featuring Berengaria include : In media . The 1935 film " The Crusades " , starring Loretta Young and Henry Wilcoxon , tells a fictionalized story of Richard and Berengaria ' s marriage . The 1954 historical drama film " King Richard and the Crusaders " , starring George Sanders and Paula Raymond , tells that Richard and Berengaria are married and on the Third Crusade . The 1960s ' British television series " Richard the Lionheart " prominently features their marriage . All versions were highly romanticised and are not reliable sources of information about the queen .