The "Era Of Queens"

The Changing Faces Of Europe's Monarchies

20 year old Princess Leonor of Spain has recently become a social media favourite after images of her completing her mandatory military training made rounds online. The training is part of her becoming the future Commander in Chief of the Spanish Armed Forces - a role she will take over when she becomes queen. As the heir to the throne, Leonor’s achievements also include speaking 8 languages.

When she does become queen, she will be the country’s first female monarch in 150 years.

For many, the young Spanish princess represents what the monarchy has long struggled with, relatability, and she isn’t the only one. With multiple young princesses in line to become monarchs of their countries, Europe is entering what is being termed as its ‘era of queens’. For the first time in history, almost every European monarchy has a princess as the heir to the throne, opening up the conversation to what it means to have women rule and what it took to get here. The shift comes primarily due to changing primogeniture laws across many countries that now allow elder daughters to maintain their place in the line of succession even if they have younger brothers. Most of these changes have happened over the last 50 years - marking a very recent shift in global monarchies and their long history of being dominated by men. In fact, in all of these cases, Spain is the only country where Leonor is heir only because she doesn’t have a brother, since Spain’s primogeniture laws still give preference to male heirs. 

Sweden was the first to pave the way for absolute primogeniture laws, changing the law in 1980.

This was controversial at the time because it took the title of future monarch away from newborn prince Carl Phillip and retroactively gave it to now 49 year old Princess Victoria, making her the trailblazer for this entire generation of European queens.

The Netherlands followed shortly after in 1983, when the Dutch constitution was amended to grant the eldest child full succession rights, which ensured that 20 years later Princess Catharina-Amalia could automatically take precedence over any future brothers. Norway then adopted absolute primogeniture in 1990. However, unlike Sweden, it was not made retroactive for those born before 1990. Therefore, Princess Ingrid Alexandra's father (Crown Prince Haakon) remained ahead of his older sister, Princess Märtha Louise. But Ingrid Alexandra firmly secured her place ahead of her younger brother.

Belgium was the last of this group, abolishing their ancient Salic law in 1991 - which previously banned women from the throne entirely. his paved the way for Princess Elisabeth to become the realm's first-ever Duchess of Brabant and heir apparent upon her birth in 2001.

Other than Swedish Princess Victoria, the other future queens of Europe are all in their 20s, allowing the monarchies to relate to a very young, and these days - very political - generation, at a time when kings and queens are losing popularity. Yet public polls have shown that these crown princesses far outweigh their fathers in terms of popularity in the eyes of the public. A phenomenon known as the "Amalia effect" or "Elisabeth effect" is sweeping across Europe. A landmark nationwide survey by Belgian media outlets revealed that Princess Elisabeth has become the most popular member of the Belgian Royal Family. 64% of the public firmly believe that Princess Catharina-Amalia will make a good queen. Interestingly, the Dutch military reports an "Amalia effect," noting a major spike in young student recruitment after the Princess enrolled in the Air Force defense program. In both Sweden and Norway tracking data shows that Crown Princess Victoria and Princess Ingrid Alexandra hold some of the highest individual trust ratings of any public figures.

With Europe set to enter this latest era where women become the face of power, one important question still remains. Will these young women truly redefine power, or will they simply take part in the same global politics made more palatable because they are the face of it.