Five young women across Europe are in line to inherit some of the continent’s oldest thrones. Four of them are Gen Z, and Sweden’s Victoria will get there first. Meanwhile, four of America’s last five presidents were men born before the moon landing or color TV.
For most of European history, crowns passed to sons. That’s shifting across five monarchies at once, with Gen Z women lined up to inherit thrones in the Netherlands, Spain, Norway, Belgium and Sweden.
Princess Catharina-Amalia of the Netherlands, 22, declined her state allowance at 18 because she “wasn’t doing anything for it yet,” then studied remotely from Madrid for a stretch after organized-crime threats. She’s now a law student and an Air Force reservist who made corporal, and she broke her arm falling off a horse in 2025 and showed up for duty anyway.
Princess Amalia of the Netherlands at the Royal Palace in Amsterdam ahead of a state banquet marking the German President’s official visit, June 9, 2026. Photo by Ramon van Flymen / AFP via Getty Images.Ahead of a state banquet in Amsterdam on June 9, 2026, Princess Amalia of the Netherlands posed for an official photo on day one of German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier’s state visit. Photo by Patrick van Katwijk / Getty Images.
Princess Leonor of Spain, 20, spent three years rotating through the army, navy and air force, learned to fly, and finished as the first Spanish royal to earn a parachutist badge. She’s starting a political science degree at a public university in Madrid.
Madrid’s Royal Palace hosted the Pascua Militar ceremony on January 6, 2025, with Crown Princess Leonor of Spain in attendance. Photo by Carlos Alvarez / Getty Images.At Madrid’s Royal Palace on January 6, 2025, the Pascua Militar ceremony brought Crown Princess Leonor of Spain into attendance for the New Year’s military observance. Photo by Carlos Alvarez / Getty Images.Crown Princess Leonor and Queen Letizia of Spain at the Pascua Militar ceremony held at Madrid’s Royal Palace on January 6, 2025. Photo by Carlos Alvarez / Getty Images.
Princess Ingrid Alexandra of Norway, 22, is second in line after her father, Crown Prince Haakon. She won a national junior surfing title and served 15 months as an engineer soldier and gunner in the Arctic, voluntarily extending her required year. She’s now a student at the University of Sydney, living in student housing under her own name.
Princess Ingrid Alexandra joins Crown Princess Mette-Marit and Crown Prince Haakon Magnus at Skaugum in Asker to wave to the children’s parade on Norway’s National Day, May 17, 2024. Photo by Per Ole Hagen / Getty Images.Crown Prince Haakon Magnus and Princess Ingrid Alexandra wave to the children’s parade from Skaugum on Norway’s National Day, May 17, 2024. Photo by Per Ole Hagen / Getty Images.Princess Ingrid Alexandra poses for her official 18th birthday portrait at the Royal Court in Oslo in June 2022. Photo by Ida Bjørvik / Getty Images.At Oslo’s Royal Court in June 2022, Princess Ingrid Alexandra of Norway marks her 18th birthday in an official portrait sitting. Photo by Ida Bjørvik / Getty Images.
Princess Elisabeth of Belgium, 24, earned a degree at Oxford, finished a master’s at Harvard’s Kennedy School in 2026, and ran the New York Marathon along the way.
Princess Elisabeth of Belgium attends a state banquet at the Royal Castle of Laeken in Brussels on June 23, 2026, during the Japanese Emperor and Empress’s official visit to Belgium. Photo by Geert Vanden Wijngaert / Getty Images.Crown Princess Elisabeth of Belgium joins the “Everyone to the Table” celebration at Brussels’ Place du Jeu de Balle on Belgium’s National Day, July 21, 2026. Photo by Jonas Roosens / AFP via Getty Images.
Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden, 48, is the only mother of the group and next in line ahead of all of them. She’s spoken openly about dyslexia, an eating disorder in her late teens, and face blindness, and she’s doing officer training to prepare for her role as future commander-in-chief.
Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden takes in the Nobel award ceremony at Stockholm’s Concert Hall on December 10, 2025. Photo by Jonathan Nackstrand / AFP via Getty Images.At Stockholm’s Royal Palace on March 12, 2026, Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden takes part in Name Day celebrations. Photo by Michael Campanella / Getty Images.
Sweden was first to rewrite its succession law in 1980 so the eldest child inherits regardless of gender, and the Netherlands, Norway and Belgium followed. Spain still formally uses male-preference primogeniture, but Leonor is heir because her parents have no sons.
At Stockholm City Hall on December 10, 2025, the Nobel Prize Banquet brought out Sweden’s Crown Princess Victoria. Photo by Pascal Le Segretain / Getty Images.
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