For most of human history, giving birth carried a real chance of death, a risk that touched queens and commoners alike regardless of wealth or status. These 30 women, spanning centuries and continents, all lost their lives to complications that modern medicine would very likely have prevented.
1. Jane Seymour
Jane Seymour became Henry VIII’s third wife after Anne Boleyn’s execution, finally giving him the son he’d long wanted with the birth of the future Edward VI in 1537. She died less than two weeks later from postnatal complications, and remains the only one of Henry’s six wives to receive a queen’s funeral and be buried beside him.
2. Catherine Parr
Catherine Parr outlived Henry VIII as his sixth and final wife, only to die roughly a year and a half later from complications following the birth of her only child with fourth husband Thomas Seymour. Her funeral became the first Protestant service held in English anywhere in Britain or Ireland.
3. Elizabeth of York
As the first Tudor queen consort, Elizabeth of York married Henry VII and helped unite the warring houses of York and Lancaster following the Wars of the Roses. She died in the Tower of London on her 37th birthday, shortly after giving birth to a daughter who did not survive infancy either.
4. Mary Wollstonecraft
Considered one of the founding feminist philosophers for her landmark work A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Mary Wollstonecraft died just eleven days after giving birth to her second daughter, Mary Shelley, who would go on to write Frankenstein. Her death from complications overshadowed her legacy for nearly a century before feminist scholars later reclaimed her work.
5. Mumtaz Mahal
Mumtaz Mahal, chief consort to Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, died in 1631 giving birth to her fourteenth child. Her grief stricken husband commissioned the Taj Mahal as her final resting place, transforming personal loss into one of the most famous monuments to love in the world.
6. Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt
The first wife of future president Theodore Roosevelt, Alice Hathaway Lee died from kidney disease less than two days after giving birth to their only child, on the same day and in the same house as Roosevelt’s mother’s death from typhoid fever. The double tragedy devastated Roosevelt so deeply that he rarely spoke of Alice again for the rest of his life.
7. Princess Charlotte of Wales
As the only child of the future King George IV, Princess Charlotte was next in line to the British throne when she died in 1817 after delivering a stillborn son. Her death triggered a national wave of mourning and sent her father’s unmarried brothers scrambling to marry and produce an heir, eventually leading to the birth of the future Queen Victoria.
8. Isabella Beeton
Best known as the author of Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management, one of the best selling books of the Victorian era, Isabella Beeton died of puerperal fever at just 28 years old following the birth of her fourth child. Biographers later suggested her husband had unknowingly passed along an infection contracted before their marriage.
9. Gianna Beretta Molla
An Italian pediatrician, Gianna Beretta Molla refused both an abortion and a hysterectomy while pregnant with her fourth child despite knowing the pregnancy could cost her life. She died a week after the birth in 1962, and the Catholic Church later canonized her as a saint in 2004 in recognition of that choice.
10. Marjorie Oelrichs
A well known New York and Newport socialite nicknamed “Bubbles,” Marjorie Oelrichs married bandleader Eddy Duchin in 1935 and died just six days after giving birth to their son Peter Duchin in 1937. Her story was later dramatized in the 1956 film The Eddy Duchin Story, with Kim Novak playing her role.
11. Barbara Zápolya
Barbara Zápolya became Queen of Poland and Grand Duchess of Lithuania through her marriage to King Sigismund I, an alliance meant to counter Habsburg influence over the Hungarian throne. She died in 1515 shortly after giving birth to her second daughter, cutting short what her contemporaries described as a genuinely loving marriage.
12. Jadwiga of Poland
Jadwiga became the first female monarch of the Kingdom of Poland in 1384, reigning as “king” in her own right after Polish nobility crowned her rather than her intended husband. She died in 1399 following childbirth, and was canonized by the Roman Catholic Church nearly six centuries later, in 1997.
14. Elisabeth of Valois
As the third wife of Philip II of Spain and eldest daughter of Henry II of France and Catherine de’ Medici, Elisabeth of Valois became a key figure in Franco-Spanish diplomatic relations. She died in 1568 after a miscarriage, having previously given birth to two surviving daughters during her marriage to the Spanish king.
30. Princess Margaret Yolande of Savoy
Princess of Savoy from birth, Margaret Yolande later became Duchess consort of Parma through her marriage to Ranuccio Farnese. She died in 1663 while giving birth, cutting short a life that had once included consideration as a potential bride for her cousin Louis XIV of France.
15. Grand Duchess Anna Petrovna of Russia
The elder daughter of Emperor Peter I of Russia, Anna Petrovna married into the Duchy of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp and gave birth to a son who would later rule as Emperor Peter III. She died in Kiel in 1728, just weeks after delivering her only child.
16. Princess Zorka of Montenegro
The eldest child of Montenegrin monarch Nicholas I, Zorka married Prince Peter Karađorđević, who would go on to become King of Serbia thirteen years after her death. She died in 1890 while giving birth to her son Andrija, who himself died shortly after his mother.
17. Émilie du Châtelet
A French mathematician, physicist, and philosopher, Émilie du Châtelet produced the definitive French translation of Isaac Newton’s Principia, still considered the standard version today. She died in 1749 from complications following childbirth, cutting short a scientific career that included her own original contributions to the concept of energy conservation.
18. Paula Modersohn-Becker
A German painter and one of the earliest figures of expressionism, Paula Modersohn-Becker is recognized as the first known female artist to paint nude self-portraits. She died from an embolism in 1907 at just 31 years old, only weeks after giving birth to her daughter.
19. Marietta Robusti
Known as “Tintoretta,” Marietta Robusti was a Venetian painter of the Renaissance period and the daughter of the famed painter Tintoretto, who trained her in his own workshop. She died around 1590 in her early thirties, with her death attributed to complications from childbirth.
20. Isabella of Aragon, Queen of Portugal
The eldest daughter of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile, Isabella became Queen consort of Portugal and stood as heir presumptive to the Spanish throne after the death of her brother. She died in 1498, just days after giving birth to a son who himself died in infancy two years later.
21. Alexandra Georgievna of Russia
A Greek princess by birth, Alexandra Georgievna married into the Russian imperial family and became a first cousin of Tsar Nicholas II. She died in 1891 at just 21 years old, shortly after giving birth to her first child.
22. Grand Duchess Natalia Alexeievna of Russia
Born Princess Wilhelmina Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt, Natalia Alexeievna became the first wife of the future Emperor Paul I of Russia. She died in 1776 during a difficult childbirth that also claimed the life of her child.
23. Margravine Auguste of Baden-Baden
Born into the ruling family of Baden-Baden, Auguste married into the House of Orléans and became an ancestor of several European royal families, including the present Grand Duke of Luxembourg. She died in 1726 at just 21 years old, following complications from childbirth.
24. Infanta Maria Teresa Rafaela of Spain
Born into the Spanish royal family, Maria Teresa Rafaela became Dauphine of France through her marriage to the son of Louis XV. She died in 1746 at age 20, just three days after giving birth to a daughter who herself died two years later.
25. Charlotte Christine of Brunswick-Lüneburg
Charlotte Christine married Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich of Russia and became known as one of Empress Marie Antoinette’s great aunts through the wider royal family tree. She died in 1715 following childbirth, having spent much of her brief marriage isolated far from her German homeland.
26. Sarah Lincoln Grigsby
The older sister of President Abraham Lincoln, Sarah Lincoln helped care for her younger brother during their childhood in Kentucky and Indiana. She died in 1828 at just 20 years old while giving birth to a stillborn child.
27. Grand Duchess Anna Leopoldovna of Russia
Born Elisabeth Katharina Christine von Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Anna Leopoldovna served briefly as regent of Russia during the infancy of her son, Emperor Ivan VI. She died in 1746 following the birth of her fourth child, after years spent imprisoned by the empress who had overthrown her regency.
28. Judith of Habsburg
The youngest daughter of King Rudolf I of Germany, Judith of Habsburg became Queen of Bohemia and Poland through her marriage to the Přemyslid king Wenceslaus II. She died in 1297 at just 26 years old, following complications from childbirth.
29. Blanche of Navarre, Duchess of Brittany
The daughter of Theobald the Troubadour, King of Navarre, Blanche of Navarre became Duchess consort of Brittany through her marriage to John I, Duke of Brittany. She died in 1283 after decades of marriage, with her death attributed to complications tied to childbirth.
