No woman reigns in Europe anymore. The abdication of Margaret II of Denmark, just one year and four months after the death of Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, in 2022, and the proclamation as king of her son Frederick X, leaves Europe orphaned of female monarchs, but with a young generation of crown princesses born in this century who aspire to take charge of their respective monarchies of the Old Continent. A high number of women who are positioned at the top thanks to the validity of new laws that eliminate the predominance of men in the lines of succession. Isabel of Belgium (born in 2001), Amalia of the Netherlands (2003) and Leonor de Borbón (2005) have in their hands the advent and preservation of European monarchies, at a time marked by the decline of the institution. They will be joined as first in the line of succession by Ingrid Alexandra of Norway (2004) and Estela of Sweden (2012) once Haakon of Norway and Victoria of Sweden are crowned.
“In 1980, Sweden became the first country in the world to adopt a gender-neutral order of succession,” Swedish expert Roger Lundgren said in statements to the AFP agency. Only Spain, Monaco and Liechtenstein ignore the change in legislation and are framed as the only countries in Europe without progress. These laws change the trend and will allow the ascension to the Swedish throne of Princess Victoria of Sweden, born in 1977; and mother Princess Estela, today second in the line of succession. The Swedish heiress is placed on the European monarchical map as the only woman who will wear the crown before the arrival of the promising generation Z, when she takes over from her father, King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, who continues to exercise his role 77 years old. Precisely, the Swedish monarch was highly criticized when just a year ago he expressed his discomfort at what abolishing the Salic law meant.
Royalty experts agree that a monarch's gender matters little, as the institution faces the same challenges and obligations. Although “many things will remain the same”, since “a large part of the work of the current monarchs, and what they will do in 25 years, are similar to what they already did 200 years ago,” explains Lundgren, in reference to the diplomatic role that constitutes largely the common role of monarchies, with state visits or royal receptions. “Each new generation must always face a main challenge, and not the least: questioning the usefulness of the crown,” adds Lisa Castro, historian of the 19th century monarchies and doctor at the French University of Toulouse-Jean Jaurès.
Even so, monarchies are not exempt from generational evolution. Some of the future European queens have continued their studies in their country or abroad – such as Isabella of Belgium and Eleanor of Spain, who studied at the UWC Atlantic College in Wales – and receive an education in military training very different from previous queens such as Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom or Margaret II of Denmark. In addition, future queens are expected to be more aware of current challenges and problems, such as climate change, feminism or the fight for the rights of the LGBTI community… Princesses born in the 21st century have grown up in a world marked by the climate crisis, the Me Too movement, the covid pandemic, the explosion of social networks and, most recently, the wars in Ukraine and Israel. “Consciousness in the fight against climate change is especially assimilated within the Scandinavian monarchies,” says Castro.
The journalist Pilar Eyre has also participated in the compilation of statements by the French agency Afp: “It is impossible for time not to wear down the monarchical institution,” she says, citing as an example the “image management” of Prince William of the United Kingdom and his wife Kate Middleton. An assumption that Swedish royalty expert Ebba Kleberg also agrees with: “They need to be on more platforms, always maintaining the traditional media channels used by previous generations, since these do not reach everyone.”
In the Netherlands, in 2021, Prime Minister Mark Rutte confirmed that Crown Princess Amalia of Orange could marry a woman if she wanted – the country has allowed gay marriage since 2001. A change in trend that once again demonstrates the efforts of an institution to survive the new world and its needs, as was the case a few years ago with the arrival of people outside the nobility and royalty to the European royal houses: with the cases of the wedding of the Argentine Máxima Zorreguieta with Guillermo of the Netherlands; Daniel of Sweden, personal trainer and now husband of Princess Victoria; or Letizia Ortiz, a divorced journalist, with Felipe de Borbón.
The kings and queens have also joined the fight for new realities. Queen Letizia recently visited an association that helps prostituted women, something “unimaginable for previous generations,” according to Eyre. “It is with these gestures that they earn the affection and respect of the citizens, not with great ceremonies or great costumes,” adds the journalist, for whom the current princesses “will be feminist queens, or they will not be.”
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