Another future Queen is born!

On February 23rd, 2012 a future queen, Princess Estelle Silvia Ewa Mary, was born in Sweden. Counting her mother, Crown Princess Victoria, who is currently the only female heir-apparent in the world, this brings the total number of future queens regnant to five. The others are Princess Ingrid Alexandra of Norway, Princess Catharina-Amalia of the Netherlands and Princess Elisabeth of Belgium. If the Crown Prince and Princess of Spain do not have a son their elder daughter, Infanta Leonor, would make it six.

Barring any unforseen tragedy or abolishing the monarchy, these little girls are changing history. Other countries have had queens regnant before but Princess Elisabeth will be Belgium's first. Should Sweden's little princess inherit the throne from her mother, this will be one of the few times, outside of the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, when the Queen of a European throne has been succeeded by another woman. Monarchies are no longer a boys only club. Should William and Catherine have a firstborn daughter, Prince Christian of Denmark will be further outnumbered by his female contemporaries.

Princess Estelle, who cannot be usurped by a male sibling, owes her position to her mother. When Sweden changed their rules of succession in 1980 from agnatic to equal primogeniture, Victoria became Crown Princess despite having a younger brother. Other monarchies followed suit, Norway in 1990, Belgium 1991, Denmark in 2009 and Luxembourg in 2011. The Netherlands, with their own history of Queens, made the change in 1983. Women have ruled the country for so long that when Crown Prince Willem-Alexander succeeds his mother Queen Beatrix, he will be the first king of the Netherlands since 1890. Although Britain has five Queens Regnant, they are currently in the process of changing the rules. If William and Catherine's firstborn is a girl, she will be the beneficiary of this change. If the fates are kind, she may eventually take her place amongst her illustrious predecessors in British history.

© Marilyn Braun 2012

Thank you for enjoying this article. If you use the information for research purposes, a link to credit the work I've put into writing it would be appreciated.

Article amended to add the name of the princess.

The Royal Report for Sunday March 20th, 2011 - Royal Focus: Buckingham Palace

One of the most famous landmarks in the world, Buckingham Palace is the Queen's official London residence. Did you know that the palace has 775 rooms? Or that it has its own cinema, post office and chapel? Come behind the gates and learn more about Buckingham palace on this episode.

You can listen to the episode here:

Royal Focus: Buckingham Palace

Publications mentioned

Hello! Canada Weekly No 210 21 March 2011

Website mentioned

The Official site for The Royal Wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton

From My Royal Collection

Buckingham Palace The Palace And Its Royal Residents In Photgraphs

Resources used to research this episode

The Official Website of the British Monarchy - Royal Residences - Buckingham Palace

The Royal Encyclopedia

Buckingham Palace: The Place and the People

Inside Buckingham Palace/the Private World of the Royal Family

Crown and Country: A Personal Guide to Royal London

Tune in live to the next episode of The Royal Report on Sunday March 27, 2011 at 9:00PM EST (North America)

The topic will be: With the well documented marital history of the House of Windsor, does Prince William and Kate Middleton's marriage stand a chance of being successful?

© Marilyn Braun 2011