Kings and Queens: Modern Europe

Using the term "modern" fairly loosely, this page covers kings and queens of continental Europe since the Middle Ages. Note that France and Russia (as well as England, Scotland and the United Kingdom) are covered on separate pages.

Note also that like many pages on this website, this one is not supposed to be comprehensive; it's just a collection of facts that I've heard asked about in quizzes (or that I think are likely to crop up).

Current European monarchs

This section probably tells you more than you'll ever need to know on this subject – but you never know when you might need to know who any of these people are.

Country		Regnal name (and number)	Born	Acceded	Heir apparent
Andorra		Joan–Enric Vives i Sicí­lia	24 July 1949	12 May 2003	N/A
		Emmanuel Macron	21 December 1977	14 May 2017	N/A

Under the terms of an agreement dating back to 1278, sovereignty over Andorra has been shared since 1607 by the bishop of La Seu d'Urgell (a town in the Catalan Pyrenees of Spain) and the French head of state.

Belgium		Philippe	15 April 1960	21 July 2013	Elisabeth (b. 2001)
Denmark		Margrethe II	16 April 1940	14 January 1972	Frederik (b. 1968)
Liechtenstein		Hans–Adam II	14 February 1945	13 November 1989	Alois (b. 1968)

Prince Alois has been Regent of Liechtenstein since 15 August 2004.

Luxembourg		Henri	16 April 1955	7 October 2000	Guillaume (b. 1981)
Monaco		Albert II	14 March 1958	6 April 2005	Jacques (b. 2014)

Prince Jacques has a twin sister, Princess Gabriella.

Netherlands		Willem–Alexander	27 April 1967	30 April 2013	Catharina–Amalia (b. 2003)
Norway		Harald V	21 February 1937	17 January 1991	Haakon (b. 1973)
Spain		Felipe VI	30 January 1968	19 June 2014	None

Felipe has two daughters, the elder of whom is Princess Leonor (born 2005). Leonor is the heir presumptive but, if Felipe has a son in the future, that son will become heir apparent and will replace Leonor as first in line to the throne.

Sweden		Carl XVI Gustav	30 April 1946	15 September 1973	Victoria (b. 1977)
United Kingdom		Elizabeth II	21 April 1926	6 February 1952	Charles (b. 1948)

Further details of these monarchs, where I've come across anything significant, can be found below under History (except for Elizabeth II, who comes under Kings and Queens of England and Great Britain: Chronological and The Royal Family).

Belgium

1831–65	First King of the Belgians		Leopold I
1934–51	King of Belgium from 1934, and during World War II; tried to maintain Belgian neutrality following the outbreak of the war, but surrendered after the German invasion in May 1940, earning him much hostility both at home and abroad; abdicated in 1951 in favour of his 20–year–old son ...		Leopold III
1951–93	Abdicated for 36 hours in 1990 to avoid signing a law legalising abortion. Having no children, he was succeeded, on his death in 1993 aged 62, by his younger brother ... (then aged 59)		Baudouin I
1993–2013	Succeeded his elder brother in 1993; abdicated for health reasons in 2013, aged 79, in favour of his son ...		Albert II
2013–	Succeeded in 2013 after his father abdicated for health reasons		Philippe

Denmark

Denmark has Europe's oldest monarchy, the first attested historical king being Ongendus around the year 710. The line of kings cannot be traced all the way back to Ongendus (see below).

936–958	The first truly historical king of Denmark: reported son of the semi–legendary King Harthacnut (dates are approximate)		Gorm the Old
958–985/6	United (or re-united) the Danes, and introduced Christianity		Harald I Bluetooth
986–1014	King of England 1013–14		Sweyn I Forkbeard
1014–18	Son of Sweyn Forkbeard, brother of Cnut		Harald II Svendsen
1018–1035	King of England 1016–35		Cnut the Great
1035–1042	Initially rejected by the English, in favour of his half–brother Harold Harefoot, because he spent too much time in Denmark; succeeded Harold on the latter's death in 1040; succeeded in Denmark by Magnus the Good, King of Norway, and in England by his other half–brother, Edward the Confessor – son of Ethelred the Unready		Harthacnut

When King Christopher of Denmark, Sweden and Norway died without issue in January 1448, the three kingdoms were separated; Count Christian of Oldenburg (a descendant of Eric V who ruled from 1259 to 1286) was elected to the Danish throne as Christian I. (Denmark was an elective monarchy; the king was elected by the nobility, who shared power with him.)

1448–1481

Father of Margaret of Denmark, the popular consort of King James III of Scotland

Christian I

Christian I was succeeded in 1481 by his son John (a.k.a. Hans); John was succeeded in 1513 by his son Christian II, who was deposed ten years later in favour of his uncle Frederick, Duke of Holstein. Frederick's eldest son, like John's, was named Christian in honour of their father Christian I, and he succeeded his father in 1534 to become Christian III. His son was named Frederick in honour of his father, and so on.

The names of the Danish kings continued to alternate between Christian and Frederick until 1972.

1912–47			Christian X
1947–72	Succeeded by the eldest of his three daughters, Margrethe II		Frederick IX
1972–	Denmark's first queen for over 600 years: born 1940, succeded her father, Frederick IX		Margrethe II

The heir apparent to Queen Margrethe II is Prince Frederik (born 1968); Fredrik's firstborn (born 2005) is called Christian. So the sequence is set to continue, with Margrethe having replaced one Christian. (Margrethe I was was Queen of Denmark, Norway and Sweden from 1387 to 1412.)

Greece

1832–62	Son of King Ludwig I of Bavaria; became the first modern King of Greece under the terms of the London Convention 1832, following Greece's hard–won independence from the Ottoman Empire. Deposed by the National Assembly		Otto I
1862–1902	Son of King Christian IX of Denmark; brother of Queen Alexandra (consort of Edward VII of Great Britain) and Maria Feodorovna (Dagmar), wife of Tsar Alexander III of Russia; grandfather of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh; elected by the National Assembly following the deposition of Otto I; assassinated in Thessaloniki, for disputed reasons, by a lone gunman		George I
1902–17 1920–22	Son of George I: abdicated in favour of his son Alexander, 1917, following the National Schism (over whether Greece should join World War I); restored by a plebiscite in 1920 following Alexander's death, but abdicated again in 1922 following defeat in a war with Turkey		Constantine I
1917–20	Second son of Constantine I: succeeded following his father's abdication, but died three years later of septicaemia after being bitten by a pet monkey (belonging to one of his stewards) when trying to intervene in a fight between another monkey and his German shepherd dog Fritz		Alexander
1922–24 1935–47	Eldest son of Constantine I: joined his father in exile in 1917, but succeeded him following his second abdication in 1922; deposed 1924 following the declaration of a republic, but returned in 1935 after the monarchy was restored by a plebiscite. Left Greece during World War II; returned 1946, died without issue on April Fool's Day 1947		George II
1947–64	Third son of Constantine I: succeeded his eldest brother George II		Paul I
1964–73	Last King of Greece: only son of Paul. Won a sailing gold medal at the Rome Olympics, 1960. Forced into exile following the Colonels' Coup in 1967; remained head of state in exile until 1973, when the junta abolished the monarchy; remained in exile in Rome		Constantine II

Italy

1805–14	Crowned in Milan; abdicated at the Treaty of Fontainebleau, when he was exiled to Elba		Napoleon Bonaparte
1861–78	The first king of a united Italy since the 6th century: previously (from 1849) King of Sardinia		Victor Emmanuel II
1878–1900	Assassinated by anarchist Gaetano Breschi, two years after the massacre of 118 protestors (or over 400, depending on who you ask) in Milan		Umberto I
1900–46	Abdicated in 1946 in favour of his son Umberto II, hoping to strengthen support for the monarchy, one month before a referendum that resulted in its abolition; died in exile in Alexandria, 19 months later (December 1947)		Victor Emmanuel III
May–June 1946	Last King of Italy (left the country in 1946 following the abolition of the monarchy; died in exile in Portugal, 1983)		Umberto II

The Netherlands

1544–84	William I, Prince of Orange, first ruler of the Netherlands and leader of the revolt against the Spanish; great–grandfather of William III of England; known in English as (translation of the Dutch Willem de Zwijger)		William the Silent
1840–9	Fought in the British Army at Waterloo, where he was knocked from his horse by a musket ball to the shoulder – the spot marked by the Butte de Lion (Lion's Mound), an artificial hill constructed in 1820		William II
1890–1948	Succeeded her father William III in 1890, aged 10; encouraged Dutch resistance to the Nazi occupation in WWII, from exile in Britain; abdicated in 1948 in favour of her daughter Juliana; died in 1962		Wilhelmina
1948–80	Succeeded in 1948 on the abdication of her mother Wilhelmina; abdicated in 1980 in favour of her daughter Beatrix; died in 2004		Juliana
1980–2013	Succeeded in 1980 on the abdication of her mother Juliana; abdicated in 2013 in favour of her son Willem–Alexander		Beatrix
2013–	Succeeded his mother, Queen Beatrix, following her abdication in 2013		Willem–Alexander

Norway

1015–28	Seen as a harsh ruler, given to rough treatment of his enemies; killed by a peasant army at the Battle of Stiklestad; canonised one year later, he became the patron saint of Norway		Olaf II Haraldsson
1905–57	Succeeded by his son Olav V		Haakon VII
1957–91	Succeeded by his son Harald V		Olav V
1991–	Succeeded his father, Olav V		Harald V

Portugal

1394–1460	Prince of Portugal under whose patronage Madeira, the Cape Verde Islands and the Azores were colonised		Henry the Navigator
1908–10	Last king of Portugal: fled to Gibraltar to escape the revolution, lived the rest of his life in exile in England; died at Twickenham in 1932		Manuel II

Romania

1881–1914	First king of Romania		Carol I
1914–27	Nephew of Carol I		Ferdinand
1930–40	Son of King Ferdinand: renounced the succession 1925, settled in Paris with his mistress, returned to Romania 1930 and was proclaimed King; forced to abdicate 1940 by the pro–Nazi Iron Guard; went to Mexico, married his mistress 1947		Carol II
1927–30, 1940–47	Last King of Romania: succeeded his grandfather Ferdinand 1927, displaced on the return of his father Carol II from exile 1930, proclaimed king again on his father's abdication 1940; overthrew Antonescu's first dictatorship 1944; abdicated 1947		Michael

Spain

Son of Kings of Spain or Portugal – especially one not heir to the throne

Infante

1556–98	Married Mary I of England in 1554 (she died in 1558); sent the Armada to England in 1588		Philip II
1896–1931	Grandfather of Juan Carlos; abdicated in 1931, after which Spain became a republic		Alfonso XIII
1975–2014	Came to the throne on the "re–establishment" of the monarchy following the death of Franco in 1975; abdicated in 2014 in favour of his son Felipe		Juan Carlos

Sweden

1611–32	Known as "The Lion of the North"; confirmed as a great tactical leader by his victory at the first Battle of Breitenfeld – the first major Protestant victory of the Thirty Years' War (1631); killed the following year during the Battle of Lützen		Gustav II Adolf (Gustavus Adolphus)
1950–73	Succeeded his father Gustav V		Gustav VI Adolf
1973–	Succeeded his grandfather Gustav VI Adolf. (His father, Prince Gustav Adolf, was killed in a plane crash in 1947 – three years before the death of Gustav VI Adolf – when Carl was less than nine months old)		Carl XVI Gustav

Other

King of Ireland, 1002–1014: defeated the Vikings, but was himself killed — aged about 70 — at the Battle of Clontarf (1014); the cognomen refers to a cattle tax which he reimposed during his reign		Brian Boru
Tsar of Bulgaria, 1918–43 (father of Simeon II)		Boris III
Younger brother of Robert the Bruce, King of Scots: proclaimed High King of Ireland in 1315, and crowned in 1316, but eventually defeated and killed in 1318 by Anglo–Irish forces of the Lordship of Ireland at the Battle of Faughart in County Louth		Edward Bruce
The last Holy Roman Emperor (1792 – 1806); beaten by Napoleon at Austerlitz		Francis II
King of Prussia 1740–86 – corresponded regularly with Voltaire. Built Sanssouci palace in Potsdam and is buried there		Frederick II (the Great)
King of Poland who halted the Ottoman Turks at Vienna in 1683		John Sobieski III
Bulgaria's last Tsar, and the last head of any state to carry the title (acceded 1943 aged 6, monarchy overthrown 1946); also served as Prime Minister, 2001–5		Simeon II
15th century prince of Wallachia (now part of Romania), said to have provided the inspiration for Bram Stoker's Dracula		Vlad III (the Impaler)
Queen Victoria's eldest grandchild: eldest child of Princess Victoria, who was the eldest child of Queen Victoria (and married the Emperor Frederick III of Germany)		Kaiser Wilhelm II
Last King of Albania (self–proclaimed in 1928, deposed by the Italians in 1939)		Zog

© Haydn Thompson 2017–24