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Princess Irulan Corrino III was treated poorly in her life. Duke Paul Muad’dib Atreides married her when he seized the Golden Lion Throne, but the marriage was a political one only. The only children Paul sired were with Chani, his Fremen concubine. Thus, Irulan’s marriage was devoid of intimacy of any kind. It would seem that there were those who didn't have much regard for Irulan. Others would refer to her as Saint Irulan-the-Virgin or the Virgin Queen.
All these millennia later, we know Irulan was quite likely one of the most important persons in the Imperium. It was her devotion to recording history that we now know of the events that led to humanity’s current situation.
The Fremen of Arrakis would pray, saying: “Bless the Maker and His water. Bless the coming and going of Him. May His passing cleanse the world. And may He keep the world for His people.” The Maker to whom they prayed was Shai-hulud, a deific ideal of the great sandworms of the desert. But we students of history have our own version of this prayer:
“Bless the Historian and Her writings. Bless the learnings and teachings of Her. May Her archives free the minds of people. And may the people be blessed by Her memory.”
Truly, without the records of Irulan we might never have known of the true scope of the machinations of a few powerful parties controlling and perverting humanity.
There were those who’d suspected that gholas of Irulan had been created so that versions of her could continue to chronicle the history of humanity from the downfall of the Imperium, through the reign of the God Emperor Leto II, to the return of humanity after the Scattering. But, those who spread such stories were either simply ignorant of the facts or trying to besmirch her memory. What must be understood is that various schools of thought can be founded by various persons for various reasons. Irulan had no desire for virtual immortality through ghola recreations of herself. Instead she established her own secretive school: the Bene Observavit, a school devoted to teaching the recording of history.
We must not forget that referring to Irulan as a Virgin Queen or Saint Irulan-the-Virgin is also not entirely accurate. These are further machinations of the Bene Gesserit, whom as a faction were disappointed with Irulan. It is known that she had been denied any love or intimacy from Paul Atreides and she took no other male lovers in her life after Paul’s death. But the Bene Gesserit did not concern themselves with any use of sexuality other than for procreation or control. They didn’t even truly care for heterosexuality except for these aforementioned purposes. Therefore, if Irulan had been of any orientation other than approved breeder, it would not have been recorded except by her and possibly her students. But Irulan kept her private life just that: private. The Bene Gesserit weaponized this information, as they did with all information, in an attempt to sully the reputation and dismiss the legacy of those whom they did not respect.
And so, the Bene Observavit do not call her Saint Irulan-the-Virgin or the Virgin Queen. We have more respect for her than that.
We call her The Childless Mother of a Million Minds.