Princess Leia begins to tell him about the execution but Queen Gertrude silences her and assures him that all is well.

He comes home to Elsinore Castle to find his mother, Queen Gertrude, married to his uncle Claudius, the late king's younger brother.

In Hamlet, she plays Queen Gertrude.

Later that night, after the play, Hamlet kills Polonius during a private meeting between Hamlet and his mother, Queen Gertrude.

The eyes had been used to great effect as Queen Gertrude, Imogen, Portia, and Lady Macbeth.

Queen Gertrude and the newly crowned King Claudius sit, one on each side of the stage, watching the action throughout the play.

Queen Gertrude in Hamlet.

Queen Gertrude, "who was so criminal in some respects [was] not without sensibility and affection in other relations of life."

His reason for the murder was political and personal at the same time: Queen Gertrude had taken part in a plot to seduce Bánk's wife.

She was then less corpulent, though Queen Gertrude does refer to her son in the final duel as "fat and scant of breath."