The former wife of Xavier was an empress of an entire galactic empire. Introduced in X-Men #97 (1975) by Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum, Lilandra is the youngest member of the Shi’Ar Empire’s royal family. When her sister, Deathbird, murdered her father and was exiled, their brother D’Ken was made Emperor. While serving as D’Ken’s Grand Admiral, she realized that her brother was insane and intended to use the powers of the M’Kraan Crystal to gain more power. Framing her for inciting an uprising, Lilandra escaped her pursuers and eventually arrived on Earth, where she met Xavier and the X-men. Working together with Earth’s heroes, they stopped her brother, and she was eventually made Empress, with Xavier as her consort.

However, the couple would clash when it was discovered that Jean Grey had destroyed a sun which in turn destroyed an inhabited planet. Jean was put on trial, but Xavier used his knowledge of Shi’Ar law to have a trail by combat with the X-men vs the Imperial Guard. Despite their best efforts, Jean Grey sacrificed herself to stop the Phoenix. Deathbird would later ally herself with the Badoon and Brood and took the throne for herself, with Lilandra fleeing, with a few allied planets aiding her and seeking her advice. She would begin traveling with the Starjammer and she would eventually return to the throne when she was used as a pawn by the Skrulls. She would lead the Shi’Ar against the Kree with the Shi’Ar victory and the Kree joining their Empire.

After it was believed that many of Earth’s heroes were killed by Onslaught, she would send some of the Imperial Guard to safeguard Earth while the X-men would help her fight off an invasion from the Phalanx. Later it was believed that Ronan killed her, but she warned of the assassination beforehand and the Guard, Hobgoblin, was killed in her place. She would later protest against the Intergalactic Council in isolating Earth and turning it into a prison planet. This would come back to bite the council in the butt when it turned out to be a plan by the Kree, now the hyper-evolved Ruul, to turn the Earth into another Ego.

When Xavier’s mind was taken over by his sister Cassandra Nova, she used her powers to control Lilandra and use the Shi’Ar empire to destroy the X-men. The X-men succeeded in stopping Nova, but the events traumatized Lilandra, which eventually resulted in her trying to assassinate Xavier, believing he was still Nova, only to fail. Their marriage was annulled, and Lilandra would return to the Empire. She was still recovering when Deathbird and her new husband, Vulcan, revived D’Ken and used his followers to dethrone Lilandra. Vulcan would kill D’Ken and became Emperor. Lilandra fled and joined up with the Starjammers. However, she was killed by Darkhawk, who was being controlled by Vulcan. This caused Gladiator to break his oath and turn against the Empire and would eventually see him taking the mantle of Emperor. Lilandra and Xavier DNA were taken and eventually combined to create their daughter, Xandra.