, the earliest
Pharaoh of Egypt confidently proven to have been a woman (18th/17th century BC) The oldest attested queen regnant was the
Pharaoh 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, when gender is irrelevant to the office, or else have used the masculine form of the word in languages that have
grammatical gender as a way to classify nouns. The
Roman Empress Irene of Athens 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, there is mentioned a single queen regnant,
Athaliah, though the
Hebrew Bible regards her negatively as a usurper. The much later
Hasmonean Queen
Salome Alexandra (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. The most typical succession in European monarchies from the
Late Middle Ages 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 and the
Holy Roman Empire forbade succession by women or through a female line in accordance with the
Salic law, and nine countries still do, such countries being
Japan,
Morocco,
Jordan,
Saudi Arabia,
Bahrain,
Brunei,
Liechtenstein,
Bhutan. No queen regnant ever ruled
France, for example. Only one woman,
Maria Theresa of Austria, ruled Austria. As noted in the list below of widely-known ruling queens, many reigned in European monarchies. A similar system was practised in many of the kingdoms of the
Indian subcontinent from the Middle Ages to the
Indian independence movement. In many of these kingdoms, adoption was allowed from a relative if a monarch did not have children, and the adopted child could succeed to the throne at the death of the monarch. Often, the wife or mother of a childless king were allowed to succeed to the throne as well and allowed to rule as queen regnants in their own right, until their death, after which the throne passed to the next closest relative. Prominent examples from Indian history include
Queen Didda of Kashmir,
Razia Sultana,
Rudrama Devi,
Keladi Chennamma,
Ahilyabai Holkar,
Velu Nachiyar,
Queen Gowri Lakshmi Bayi and
Qudsia Begum of Bhopal. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries,
Sweden,
Norway,
Belgium, the
Netherlands,
Denmark,
Luxembourg and the
United Kingdom amended their laws of succession to
absolute primogeniture (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 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. , who reigned as queen of the
United Kingdom from 1952 until her death in 2022, is the longest-reigning queen regnant in world history. In 2015,
Elizabeth II became the
longest-reigning queen regnant and female head of state in world history. She was the
longest serving incumbent head of state and
monarch from 2016 until her
death on 8 September 2022. Upon Elizabeth's death,
Margrethe II of Denmark became the only remaining female monarch of a sovereign state in the world, until her
abdication on 14 January 2024. This made it the first time that no sole female sovereigns have reigned in over 200 years, excluding the co-ruling Queen
Ntfombi of Eswatini. On the other hand, there are non-sovereign queens who currently reign, such as the
Rain Queen Masalanabo Modjadji VII and the
Māori Queen Nga wai hono i te po, among others.
Victoria, Crown Princess of Sweden;
Princess Elisabeth, Duchess of Brabant (monarchy of Belgium), and
Catharina-Amalia, Princess of Orange (monarchy of the Netherlands) are currently
heirs apparent to the thrones of their respective monarchies, along with
Leonor, Princess of Asturias, who is the
heir presumptive of the throne of Spain. All four are, therefore, liable to become queens regnant following the end of the current reigns.
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 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 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 the
Eastern Queendom of the tribe
Sumpa and it is different from the title
wánghòu (王后, "king's consort") which means a queen consort. In Korea, the term
yeowang (
Hangul: 여왕,
Hanja: 女王, "female king") was developed to refer to three queens regnant of
Silla:
Seondeok,
Jindeok and
Jinseong, because the title
wangbi (
Hangul: 왕비,
Hanja: 王妃, "king's consort") means only a queen consort. The term
yeoje (
Hangul: 여제,
Hanja: 女帝, "female emperor") was also used for
Yi Hae-won, the pretender empress regnant of
Korean Empire because the title
hwanghu (
Hangul: 황후,
Hanja: 皇后, "emperor's consort") means only an empress consort. Although
Vietnam 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 (
chữ Hán: 女王, "female king") and the title as an empress regnant of
Lý Chiêu Hoàng was
Nữ hoàng (
chữ Hán: 女皇, "female emperor"), and they are different from the titles of female consorts. In Japan, the title used for two queens regnant of
Yamatai:
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
jotei (女帝, "female emperor") or
josei tennō (女性天皇, "female heavenly 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
Japan is currently barred to women following the
Imperial Household Law (
Emperor Naruhito's daughter
Princess Aiko 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. == List ==