- "He rode past his wife and he lay a crown of winter roses in Lyanna's lap. Blue with frost. How many tens of thousands had to die because Rhaegar chose your aunt?""
- ―Petyr Baelish to Sansa Stark on Rhaegar Targaryen's "crowning" of Lyanna Stark
Rhaegar Targaryen is enamoured with Lyanna Stark, shunning his wife, Elia Martell, in order to "crown" Lyanna Queen of Love and Beauty.
The Queen of Love and Beauty is a tradition held in tourneys in the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros.
History
Season 4
In Ser Duncan the Tall's entry in The Book of Brothers it mentions that he named a commoner as the Queen of Love and Beauty after winning a tournament at Pennytree which King Aegon V Targaryen held in his honor.[1]
Season 5
Sansa Stark visits the statue of her aunt Lyanna Stark in the crypt at Winterfell, lighting a candle in the statue's hand. Sansa is joined by Petyr Baelish, her recently widowed uncle by marriage, who recalls what happened at the Tourney of Harrenhal where Rhaegar Targaryen shocked everyone present by passing over his wife in order to crown Lyanna as the Queen of Love and Beauty. Baelish concludes his story by noting how this seemingly sweet gesture led to deaths of thousands.[2]
Season 8
While Brienne of Tarth writes Jaime Lannister's deeds within the White Book, it is mentioned that Alys Reyne was crowned as Queen of Love and Beauty by Arthur Dayne in the tourney of Brightwater Kee.[3]
In the books
In the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, the tradition holds that the victor in a tournament may select any woman present and name her the queen of love and beauty, crowning her with a wreath of flowers and dedicating his victory to her.
The victorious knight often chooses a woman he loves or intends to court, and it can be a source of scandal if the victor crowns a woman already bound to another man, or if a married man crowns someone other than his wife. Since both of these cases were true when Prince Rhaegar Targaryen crowned Lyanna Stark after winning a tourney at Harrenhal, it was particularly scandalous.
Queen Naerys Targaryen was crowned by her brother, Prince Aemon the Dragonknight, who was disguised as a mystery knight known as the "Knight of Tears". Queen Naerys was married to King Aegon IV Targaryen.
Princess Rhaella Targaryen was crowned by Ser Bonifer Hasty, a landed knight of the Stormlands.
Ser Jorah Mormont crowned Lynesse Hightower after winning a tourney at Lannisport, requesting and receiving her hand in marriage from her father that very night.
