Cleopatra VII was queen of Egypt and the wife of Mark Antony. (PROSE: State of Change, The Last Pharaoh) She was Greek, although it was a common mistake to think she was Egyptian. (PROSE: The Lonely Computer)
- You may wish to consult
Cleopatra (disambiguation)for other, similarly-named pages.
Early life
Cleopatra had a brother and a sister, Arsinoe. She married her brother, but later convinced Julius Caesar to have him murdered. She then took Caesar as a lover and had a son with him. After Caesar's death, Cleopatra took Mark Antony as a lover and convinced him to have Arsinoe murdered. Eventually she married Mark Antony and together they had three children, including at least one daughter. (PROSE: The Last Pharaoh)
At some point, she married the Doctor, as well as River Song. (TV: The Husbands of River Song)
Later life
The Sixth Doctor and Peri Brown watched Cleopatra's barge on the River Nile in preparation for the Battle of Actium. (PROSE: State of Change)
Within a year of the Battle of Actium, Cleopatra committed suicide by drinking poisoned wine. (PROSE: The Last Pharaoh)
Undated events
The Fourth Doctor claimed to have played bridge with Cleopatra. (PROSE: The English Way of Death, AUDIO: The English Way of Death)
The Fifth Doctor reported to have met Cleopatra at some point. He described her as having "the succour and grace of a carpet flea." (AUDIO: Loups-Garoux)
Cleopatra was abducted by Momus while she had Mark Antony waiting in her studio. Donna Noble and the Tenth Doctor encountered her among several other historical figures from Earth who were also abducted by Momus. (PROSE: The Lonely Computer)
References
The Fourth Doctor claimed to have learned swordsmanship from a captain in Cleopatra's bodyguard. (TV: The Masque of Mandragora, PROSE: The Shadow of Weng-Chiang)
Mickey Smith used the fact that the Tenth Doctor referred to her as "Cleo" to taunt Rose Tyler. (TV: The Girl in the Fireplace)
The Tenth Doctor told Donna Noble that accounts of her beauty were greatly exaggerated. Indeed, he said that she could only be "the most beautiful woman in the world" if her bedchamber were expanded to the size of the Earth, and "all her handmaidens had had the day off". Nonetheless, the Doctor intimated that he had actually seen her bedchamber. (PROSE: Ghosts of India)
In 102, River Song pretended to be Cleopatra and used her hallucinogenic lipstick on a Roman soldier to fool him, even though the real Cleopatra had died a hundred thirty-two years before River arrived. (TV: The Pandorica Opens)
During the Last Great Time War, the War Doctor listed Cleopatra's court among the things that he would have shown to his companion Cinder. (PROSE: Engines of War)
Alternate timelines
On the duplicate Earth known as Terra Nova, Cleopatra and Mark Antony won the Battle of Actium and had three children. (PROSE: State of Change)
In an alternate timeline in which all of history happened at the same moment because River Song refused to kill the Eleventh Doctor, Cleopatra met with Holy Roman Emperor Winston Churchill in Gaul. River Song also got her to give Amy Pond the Great Pyramid of Giza by using hallucinogenic lipstick and a gun. (TV: The Wedding of River Song)
Aliases and nicknames
| Name | When used/given | Story | Etymology |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cleo | Given by the Tenth Doctor and picked up on by Mickey Smith. | The Girl in the Fireplace | A short form of Cleopatra. |
Behind the scenes
- According to The Brilliant Book 2012, a book that contains non-narrative based information, the alternate Cleopatra was on Facebook. She was friends with River, Churchill and Napoleon Bonaparte. She was a fan of Vincent van Gogh and Silurian medicine and played live chess with Joseph Stalin; she also read the book Murder on the Sky Orient Express and joined the online groups Can I get 6,000,000,000 people to join this group before 5.03pm??? and I'm not being funny but I think this is all the Doctor's fault!
- She was portrayed by Claire Bloom in the 1956 version of Caesar and Cleopatra.