Why did empress dowagers have precedence over empress consorts at the Russian court?

Question

(This is my second posting for this question.  Not certain why my first posting of this question was deleted) 

Answer 1

Favorite Answer

It was just a way to honor the widow's age and experience. There was no specific protocol as the reigning monarch could set precedence specifically for the occasion.

Answer 2

Dude, that's not hard. The Dowager was the wife. The consorts had no title, no social bearing.

Answer 3

It's no surprise that they were all lined up against a wall and despatched.

Answer 4

The senior person takes precedence, that was how it went with Russians.

Answer 5

Mother in-laws can be a real pain in the a$$. Even emperors and empresses need to chose their battles wisely with the old vipers. 

Answer 6

This simply became a tradition after the widowed  mother of Tsar Alexander I demanded it in the early 19th century.  As I posted earlier, it wasn't  a matter of a law, and it didn't obtain anywhere but Russia.

Answer 7

The tsars caved into to their mothers demands to have higher precedence. The majority of them didn’t have a daughter in law to contend with at the beginning of their sons reigns. 

Answer 8

Because the empress dowager would usually be the mother of the current Tsar, obviously.

Answer 9

Dowagers were also consorts in their day, but they are of a previous generation.  One always gives way to one's parents, or a previous generation.