Which English king was married to Eleanor of Aquitaine?

The story behind the answer

Henry II is correct: Eleanor of Aquitaine married him in 1152, shortly after her marriage to Louis VII of France was annulled. She became Queen of England when Henry ascended in 1154. The other options don’t fit: Henry V married Catherine of Valois; Henry I married Matilda of Scotland; Richard I was Eleanor’s son, not her husband.

Their union was a geopolitical game-changer. Eleanor brought the vast duchy of Aquitaine, helping create the powerful Angevin Empire from the Scottish borders to the Pyrenees. A major cultural patron and political actor, she earlier joined the Second Crusade and later backed her sons—Richard and John—in rebellion against Henry II. Memory tip: Eleanor’s second husband is Henry II (think “Eleanor’s 2nd = Henry II”), and her famous son is Richard the Lionheart.