A queen regnant (plural: queens regnant) is a female

monarch A monarch is a head of stateWebster's II New College DictionarMonarch Houghton Mifflin. Boston. 2001. p. 707. Life tenure, for life or until abdication, and therefore the head of state of a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest authority ...

, equivalent in rank and title to a

king King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen regnant, queen, which title is also given to the queen consort, consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contempora ...

, who reigns '' suo jure'' (in her own right) over a realm known as a "kingdom"; as opposed to a queen consort, who is the wife of a reigning king; or a queen regent, who is the guardian of a child monarch and rules '' pro tempore'' in the child's stead, be it in sharing power or in ruling alone. She is sometimes called a woman king. A princess regnant is a female monarch who reigns ''suo jure'' over a " principality"; an empress regnant is a female monarch who reigns ''suo jure'' over an "

empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

". A queen regnant possesses and exercises sovereign powers, whereas a queen consort or queen regent shares her spouse's and/or child's rank and titles but does not share the sovereignty of her spouse or child. The husband of a queen regnant traditionally does not share the queen regnant's rank, title, or sovereignty. However, the concept of a king consort or prince consort is not unheard of in both contemporary and classical periods. A queen dowager or empress dowager is the widow of a king or emperor; a

queen mother A queen mother is a former queen, often a queen dowager, who is the mother of the reigning monarch. The term has been used in English since the early 1560s. It arises in hereditary monarchies in Europe and is also used to describe a number of ...

is a queen dowager who is also the mother of a reigning sovereign.

History

Statue of Sobekneferu (Berlin Egyptian Museum 14475)

The oldest attested queen regnant was the sumerian

Kubaba Kubaba (in the ''Weidner'' or ''Esagila Chronicle''), sux, , , is the only queen on the ''Sumerian King List'', which states she reigned for 100 years – roughly in the Early Dynastic III period (ca. 2500–2330 BC) of Sumerian history. A co ...

from the later mid-3rd millenium BC and the

Pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian: '' pr ꜥꜣ''; cop, , Pǝrro; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') is the vernacular term often used by modern authors for the kings of ancient Egypt who ruled as monarchs from the First Dynasty (c. 3150 BC) until th ...

Sobekneferu from the 18th/17th century BC. In Ancient Africa, Ancient Persia, Asian and Pacific cultures, and in some European countries, female monarchs have been given the title ''king'' or its equivalent, such as ''

pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian: '' pr ꜥꜣ''; cop, , Pǝrro; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') is the vernacular term often used by modern authors for the kings of ancient Egypt who ruled as monarchs from the First Dynasty (c. 3150 BC) until th ...

'', when gender is irrelevant to the office, or else have used the masculine form of the word in languages that have

grammatical gender In linguistics, grammatical gender system is a specific form of noun class system, where nouns are assigned with gender categories that are often not related to their real-world qualities. In languages with grammatical gender, most or all noun ...

as a way to classify nouns. The

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

Empress Irene sometimes titled herself '' basileus'' (βασιλεύς), 'emperor', rather than ''basilissa'' (βασίλισσα), 'empress', and Mary of Hungary was crowned as ''Rex Hungariae'', ''King of Hungary'' in 1382. Among the Davidic Monarchs of the

Kingdom of Judah The Kingdom of Judah ( he, , ''Yəhūdā''; akk, 𒅀𒌑𒁕𒀀𒀀 ''Ya'údâ'' 'ia-ú-da-a-a'' arc, 𐤁𐤉𐤕𐤃𐤅𐤃 ''Bēyt Dāwīḏ'', " House of David") was an Israelite kingdom of the Southern Levant during the Iron Age. C ...

, there is mentioned a single queen regnant,

Athaliah Athaliah ( el, Γοθολία ''Gotholía''; la, Athalia) was the daughter of either king Omri, or of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel of Israel, the queen consort of Judah as the wife of King Jehoram, a descendant of King David, and later quee ...

, though the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Hasmonean Queen

Salome Alexandra Salome Alexandra, or Shlomtzion ( grc-gre, Σαλώμη Ἀλεξάνδρα; he, , ''Šəlōmṣīyyōn''; 141–67 BCE), was one of three women to rule over Judea, the other two being Athaliah and Devora. The wife of Aristobulus I, and ...

(Shlom Tzion) was highly popular. Accession of a queen regnant occurs as a nation's order of succession permits. Methods of succession to kingdoms, tribal chiefships, and such include nomination (the reigning monarch or a council names an heir), primogeniture (in which the children of a monarch or chief have preference in order of birth from eldest to youngest), and ultimogeniture (in which the children have preference in the reverse order of birth from youngest to eldest). The scope of succession may be matrilineal, patrilineal, or both; or, rarely, open to general election when necessary. The right of succession may be open to men and women, or limited to men only or to women only. Margaret of Denmark, Norway & Sweden (1389) effigy 2010 (2)

Margaret of Denmark, Norway & Sweden (1389) effigy 2010 (2)

The most typical succession in European monarchies from the

Late Middle Ages The Late Middle Ages or Late Medieval Period was the period of European history lasting from AD 1300 to 1500. The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period (and in much of Europe, the Ren ...

until the late 20th century was male-preference primogeniture: the order of succession ranked the sons of the monarch in order of their birth, followed by the daughters. Historically, many realms, like

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars. From the accession of Otto I in 962 unt ...

forbade succession by women or through a female line in accordance with the Salic law, and nine countries still do, such countries being

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to A ...

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the Ara ...

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and a ...

Brunei Brunei ( , ), formally Brunei Darussalam ( ms, Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi: , ), is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Apart from its South China Sea coast, it is completely surrounded by th ...

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein (german: link=no, Fürstentum Liechtenstein), is a German language, German-speaking microstate located in the Alps between Austria and Switzerland. Liechtenstein is a semi-constit ...

Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainou ...

. No queen regnant ever ruled

, for example. Only one woman, Maria Theresa, ruled Austria. As noted in the list below of widely-known ruling queens, many reigned in European monarchies. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries,

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

, the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

and the UK amended their laws of succession to

absolute primogeniture Primogeniture ( ) is the right, by law or custom, of the firstborn legitimate child to inherit the parent's entire or main estate in preference to shared inheritance among all or some children, any illegitimate child or any collateral relativ ...

(in which the children of a monarch or chief have preference in order of birth from eldest to youngest regardless of gender). In some cases, the change does not take effect during the lifetimes of people already in the line of succession at the time the law was passed. In 2011, the United Kingdom and the 15 other

Commonwealth realms A Commonwealth realm is a sovereign state in the Commonwealth of Nations whose monarch and head of state is shared among the other realms. Each realm functions as an independent state, equal with the other realms and nations of the Commonweal ...

agreed to remove the rule of male-preference primogeniture. Once the necessary legislation was passed, this means that had Prince William had a daughter first, a younger son would not have become heir apparent. In 2015,

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states durin ...

became the longest-reigning queen regnant and female head of state in world history. In 2016, she became the longest currently serving head of state and longest currently reigning monarch until her

death Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...

on 8 September 2022.

East Asia

Because there is no feminine equivalent to king and emperor in East Asian languages, different titles are used for female monarchs and female consorts. The titles of female monarchs in East Asia are translated directly as "female king" or "female emperor" and the titles of female consorts in East Asia are translated directly as "king's consort" or "emperor's consort". So, the titles of female monarchs in East Asia are the same as those of male monarchs, just indicating that they are women. In

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

, the term ''nǚhuángdì'' (女皇帝, "female emperor"), abbreviated as ''nǚhuáng'' (女皇), has been used for three empresses regnant to assume the title of ''huángdì'': Daughter of Xiaoming,

Chen Shuozhen Chen Shuozhen (; died 653) was a Tang dynasty woman from Muzhou (in modern Chun'an, Zhejiang), who led a peasant uprising in 653. During the rebellion, she declared herself Empress Wenjia (文佳皇帝),'' Zizhi Tongjian'', vol. 199. becomi ...

and Wu Zetian, because the title ''huánghòu'' (皇后, "emperor's consort") means only an empress consort. The term ''nǚwáng'' (女王, "female king") was also used for queens regnant of

Sumpa The Sumpa () were a tribe living in northeastern Tibet from ancient times. Chinese historical sources refer to them as " Qiang", a term for people living in what is now Southwest China, and their actual ethnic identity is not known. Their territory ...

and it is different from the title ''wánghòu'' (王后, "king's consort") which means a queen consort. In Korea, the term ''yeowang'' (여왕, "female king") was developed to refer to three queens regnant of

Silla Silla or Shilla (57 BCE – 935 CE) ( , Old Korean: Syera, Old Japanese: Siraki2) was a Korean kingdom located on the southern and central parts of the Korean Peninsula. Silla, along with Baekje and Goguryeo, formed the Three Kingdoms o ...

: Seondeok, Jindeok and Jinseong, because the title ''wangbi'' (왕비, "king's consort") means only a queen consort. The term ''yeoje'' (여제, "female emperor") was also used for Yi Hae-won, the titular empress regnant of Korean Empire because the title ''hwanghu'' (황후, "emperor's consort") means only an empress consort. Although

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making ...

is a country in Southeast Asia, it used the royal titles of East Asia. The title as a queen regnant of Trưng Trắc was ''Nữ vương'' ("female king") and the title as an empress regnant of Lý Chiêu Hoàng was ''Nữ hoàng'' ("female emperor"), and they are different from the titles of female consorts. In Japan, the title used for two queens regnant of

Yamatai Yamatai or Yamatai-koku is the Sino-Japanese name of an ancient country in Wa (Japan) during the late Yayoi period The Chinese text '' Records of the Three Kingdoms'' first recorded the name as () or (; using reconstructed Middle Chinese ...

: Himiko and Toyo was ''joō'' (女王, "female king") and it is different from the title ''ōhi'' (王妃, "king's consort") which means only a queen consort. The term ''josei tennō'' (女性天皇, "female emperor") has been used for empresses regnant of Japan because the title ''kōgō'' (皇后, "emperor's consort") means only an empress consort. Although the Chrysanthemum Throne of

is currently barred to women following the Imperial Household Law (

Emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother ( ...

Naruhito has a daughter, Princess Aiko. She cannot accede to the Chrysanthemum Throne), this has not always been the case; throughout Japanese history, there have been eight empresses regnant. The Japanese imperial succession debate became a significant political issue during the early 2000s, as no male children had been born to the Imperial House of Japan since 1965. Prime Minister Junichirō Koizumi pledged to present parliament with a bill to allow women to ascend the Imperial Throne, but he withdrew this after the birth of Prince Hisahito (Naruhito's nephew) in 2006.

Current queen regnant

Living former queen regnant

List

Likely future queens regnant

The following women are expected to inherit a throne: * Victoria, Crown Princess of Sweden, heir apparent of Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden ** Princess Estelle, Duchess of Östergötland, eldest child of Victoria * Princess Elisabeth, Duchess of Brabant, heir apparent of Philippe of Belgium * Amalia, Princess of Orange, heir apparent of Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands * Princess Ingrid of Norway, eldest child of Haakon, Crown Prince of Norway *

Leonor, Princess of Asturias (Leonor de Todos los Santos de Borbón y Ortiz; born 31 October 2005) is the heir presumptive to the throne of Spain as the elder daughter of King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia. In addition to the official title of Princess of Asturias, she bear ...

, heir presumptive of Felipe VI of Spain *

Princess Mangkubumi Her Royal Highness Princess Mangkubumi Hamemayu Hayuning Bawana Langgeng ing Mataram ( jv, ꦩꦁꦑꦸꦨꦸꦩꦶ, Gusti Kanjeng Ratu Mangkubumi, born as Gusti Raden Ajeng Nurmalitasari on 24 February 1972, later known as Gusti Kanjeng Ratu Pemb ...

, heir presumptive of Hamengkubuwono X of the Yogyakarta Sultanate and the Special Region of Yogyakarta in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Gui ...

Notes

References

External links

* {{Authority control Positions of authority Terms for women Royal titles Matriarchy