PARIS, Oct 30 — Spain’s Crown Princess Leonor, who tomorrow turns 18 and will pledge allegiance to the constitution, is one of four women in Europe in line to take the throne.
Here are short profiles of each of them:
Spain: Leonor, Princess of Asturias
The oldest daughter of King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia, Leonor de Borbon y Ortiz became heir at the age of eight, after her grandfather King Juan Carlos abdicated.
Born on October 31, 2005, on her 18th birthday she will swear loyalty to the king and the constitution.
The Spanish constitution allows a female heir to the throne only if she has no brothers. Leonor would become the first female Spanish head of state since Isabella II’s reign from 1833 to 1868.
Felipe and his ex-newsreader wife were already darlings of the celebrity press, and the births of Leonor and her younger sister Sofia brought the royal family even more attention.
Leonor attended an expensive private school in western Madrid, and then spent two years at a boarding school in a mediaeval castle in Wales, before beginning three years of military training in September 2023.
Netherlands: Catharina-Amalia, Princess of Orange
The oldest child of King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima, Crown Princess Catharina-Amalia turns 20 this year.
Under a 1983 law, the monarch’s eldest son or daughter becomes heir.
She became first in line when Willem-Alexander succeeded his mother, Beatrix, after she abdicated in 2013.
In 2021, as the royal family faced increasing criticism for being out of touch, Amalia waived her right to a yearly income of €1.6 million (RM8.1 million) before taking on royal duties.
Born on December 7, 2003, she lives with the royal couple and her sisters in a palace surrounded by forests on the outskirts of The Hague. The princess completed her primary and secondary studies in the Dutch political centre, before going to the University of Amsterdam.
In 2022, she moved from her student digs to the palace due to unspecified threats to her security.
Belgium: Elisabeth, Duchess of Brabant
Princess Elisabeth, 22, is the eldest daughter of King Philippe and Queen Mathilde.
The law excluding women from becoming the monarch was repealed in 1991. Elisabeth would become the first queen of the Belgians.
Her father became king in 2013 after his father Albert II abdicated.
Born on October 25, 2001 in Brussels, she is currently studying at Oxford University after her schooling in Wales.
The King of the Belgians holds an essentially symbolic role, and the monarchy is often criticised by pro-independence Dutch-speakers in Flanders.
Elisabeth received her schooling in Dutch, a first for a member of the royal family, which is usually considered French speaking.
Sweden: Victoria, Duchess of Vastergotland
Crown Princess Victoria, born on July 14, 1977, is the eldest daughter of King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia.
She became heir only when Sweden changed its succession law in 1980 to enable the monarch’s first-born child to inherit the throne, regardless of gender.
She would become Sweden’s third reigning queen, and the first in nearly three centuries.
Now 46, she married her former gym trainer Daniel Westling in 2010, and has long bested her father the king in popularity polls, praised for her competence and dedication.
The couple have two children, Princess Estelle, born in 2012, and Prince Oscar, 2016. They live at Haga Palace just outside Stockholm.
She spent two years at Yale University in the United States, and has done stints at the United Nations, the European Union, and internships with the Swedish government and military. — AFP
