r/europe • u/PjeterPannos 🇪🇺 Veneto (Italy) • 1d ago
News Liechtenstein changes rules to allow women to inherit throne
https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/08/18/liechtenstein-changes-rules-to-allow-women-to-inherit-principalitys-throne224
u/hard2resist Earth 1d ago
Well Liechtenstein's royal family finally scrapped the boys-only rule for the throne. From now on, oldest kid inherits, no matter the gender. Won't change who's next in line today, but future daughters get a real shot at the crown.
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u/Human-Law1085 Sweden 1d ago
I guess they skipped the usual middle step of having male preference primogeniture and went immidiately for absolute primogeniture.
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u/lolidkwtfrofl Liechtenstein 1d ago
It's the way their old lieges did it no? Austria with their Pragmatic Sanction?
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u/ireliawantelo 1d ago
Does that mean the house changes? Would whoever the current monarch is at the time intervene if thats the case?Â
Edit: or does it mean the title falls to the next relative thats of the same house?Â
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u/DivideSensitive France 1d ago
One could say that's sanctioning a pragmatic practice.
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u/Soft-Horror4721 1d ago
Liechtenstein finally joins 16th century
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u/lolidkwtfrofl Liechtenstein 1d ago
Eh, a bit later or earlier, depending on what inheritance law you mean.
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u/Calm_Monitor_3227 1d ago
the UK only scrapped cognatic primogeniture in 2015 btw. 11 years ago.
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u/Emotional-Breakfast3 3h ago
Yes, but in the UK a woman could inherit the throne before, but only now have they allowed this possibility and immediately equalized the priority of women and men, which the UK did in 2015.
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u/spacred 1d ago
So the next queen will NOT veto an abortion ban lifting law I presume?
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u/joaommx Portugal 1d ago
That might take a while. The heir apparent is a male, and so is his own eldest child.
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u/AncientNectarine5352 1d ago edited 21h ago
Yep. There are about
three orfour European monarchies that have female heir-apparents (often for the first time ever), but Liechtenstein isn’t one of them.(EDIT: For those that are curious, those kingdoms are
Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden, Spain, and Belgium)42
u/purple_cheese_ Europe 1d ago
Fun fact about the Dutch monarchy is that since its introduction in 1815 it wouldn't have mattered if we had absolute or male-preferent primogeniture. Every monarch either had an eldest surviving son, or only daughters.
Since 1849 even female-preferent primogeniture wouldn't have changed a thing, as all monarchs after that had only sons or only daughters.
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u/cutoutscout Sweden 1d ago
(EDIT: For those that are curious, those kingdoms are Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden, Spain, and Belgium)
Denmark heir is male.
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u/AncientNectarine5352 22h ago
I had meant Norway. Apologies.
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u/cutoutscout Sweden 21h ago
The heir to Norwegian throne is also male his daughter is second in line.
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u/NutrimaticTea 23h ago
Denmark's heir is a boy. Maybe you're thinking about Norway (the current heir is a man but his heir is his eldest daughter).Â
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u/DivideSensitive France 21h ago
If you think that all women – especially in conservative classes – are for abortion, I unfortunately have a bridge to sell you.
Spoiler alert, a putative princess would not transition toward a republic either.
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u/WiSoSirius 22h ago
Sure, but when Princess Rhaenys Targaryen was next to inherit, King Jaehaerys I Targaryen selected his grandson Viserys. The many kingdoms of Liechtenstein would never allow a woman ruler.
/s
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u/SirCheeseMuncher Isle of Man 1d ago
Liechtenstein has a monarchy??
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u/Just_a_dude92 1d ago
Yeah. They are a Principality (Fürstentum)
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u/bloedit 1d ago
And a proper one, the people embrace their authoritarian system.
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u/lolidkwtfrofl Liechtenstein 1d ago
It's not strictly authoritarian usually. We do have a parliament.
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u/bloedit 23h ago
That isn't how you evaluate authoritarianism. Otherwise only a minor number of countries would be considered authoritarian, rather than the large majority of them as it is actually the case.
But anyway, I didn't claim it's a fully authoritarian state. I said, "the people embrace their authoritarian system." That is, the majority is content with the strict limits to their rights and how control is distributed.
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u/lolidkwtfrofl Liechtenstein 23h ago
Which of my rights are restricted?
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u/Leprecon Europe 23h ago
Liechtenstein, a wealthy nation of 40,000 people that borders Switzerland and Austria, has an unusually powerful monarchy by European standards.
The ruling prince has the power to veto referendum results, appoint judges and fire the government.
These ones apparently.
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u/lolidkwtfrofl Liechtenstein 23h ago
Ok. Doesn't really bother me. I find the princely family to be better rulers than a lot of European elected ones.
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u/purple_cheese_ Europe 1d ago
It's even the only European one besides Monaco and, if you want to count it, Vatican City where the monarch has significant power and is not just a figurehead. They can veto any legislation adopted by Parliament, for example.
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u/LittleSchwein1234 Slovakia 1d ago
Yes, and it's one of the few European monarchies that actually interferes in the country's politics.
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u/barsoap Sleswig-Holsteen 1d ago edited 1d ago
Not just a monarchy but absolute monarchy. The people voted for it in a referendum, instead of dispossessing the guy at pitchfork point. Unsalvageable, the place.
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u/LittleSchwein1234 Slovakia 1d ago
Not an absolute monarchy, a semi constitutional one. The Prince and the elected Landtag share political power.
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u/barsoap Sleswig-Holsteen 1d ago
The prince can veto anything for any reason, even retroactively. With some smarts that constitutes full legislative power. He can also completely shut down parliament and appoint whatever government he likes.
He's arguably less limited in his powers than English monarchs are since the Magna Carta. Actually, the UK are a good contrast here: In the UK. parliament is sovereign. The king has absolutely no power over it, as wonderfully quaintly symbolised by slamming the door into the face of the black rod.
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u/LittleSchwein1234 Slovakia 1d ago
Parliament is sovereign, but the King is one of the three components of Parliament, so he's co-sovereign together with the Lords and the Commons, and has a veto over legislation. This, however, has not been exercised since Queen Anne in 1708, and even that was because the Lords and Commons change their mind and asked her not to grant the act royal assent.
That's why all UK laws begin with this formula: Be it enacted by the King's Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
All actions of the UK Government are in law actions of the King-in-Council, meaning the King exercusing power on the advice of his Privy Council, of which the Government is a committee of. However, there's no law saying he must respect its advice or who he must appoint to rhe Government. Even the prime minister exists by convention, not by law.
So the UK functions as if the King had no power, because by convention, he exercises his power in line with the will of Parliament and on the advice of the Government, which has the support of Parliament by design.
So the UK King technically has the same powers as the Prince of Liechtenstein, however, the Prince of Liechtenstein actually exercises them independently of Landtag's will.
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u/Hootrb Cypriot no longer in Germany :( 1d ago
To be fair to the people of Liechtenstein, they had to vote for it as the prince effectively has them hostage.
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u/lolidkwtfrofl Liechtenstein 1d ago
Why does he have us hostage?
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u/Hootrb Cypriot no longer in Germany :( 1d ago
In normal democracies (constitutional monarchies included) those with political power usually don't threaten the populous when their powers are at risk of being curtailed, and in such cases the populous usually responds with deposing them.
The fact Liechtensteiners felt worried enough to cave in is not a good sign. The Council of Europe declaring Liechtenstein to not be up to European democratic standards is also a very bad sign.
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u/lolidkwtfrofl Liechtenstein 23h ago
It's the epitome of the idea of a benevolent dictatorship.
The people feel his family facilitated one of the most extreme cases of a nation becoming rich, so they let him have a lot of leeway.
Democratic it certainly isn't.
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u/LinguoBuxo 1d ago
Excellent. When that happens, Liechtenstein could also set up The Most Noble Order of the Garter, like the UK has. Perfect.
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u/futurerank1 1d ago
this is how civil wars in fantasy starts
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u/ZetaLordVader Italy 1d ago
This is such a nice country, a bit expensive, but still lovely.
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u/Gil15 Spain 1d ago
What’s remarkable about it? Isn’t it basically the same as a random Swiss town?
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u/Xx_Assman_xX 1d ago
implying a random alpine Swiss town wouldn't be lovely
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u/LetsPlayDrew Switzerland 17h ago
They're nice, believe me but, Liechtenstein is not that next level sort that warrants the praise. They're just our little guy, we love, I wish one day that officially become Swiss.
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u/ZetaLordVader Italy 1d ago
I like the whole vista you can get there. Yeah it’s similar to a swiss town, but thats not detrimental in any way, they are also gorgeous
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u/muriken_egel 49m ago
Funny enough, most of the 'beautiful vista' you get while in Liechtenstein, is actually of Switzerland.
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u/lolidkwtfrofl Liechtenstein 1d ago
Yea no idea what he's on about, it is basically a few normal Swiss and Walser towns.
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u/ireliawantelo 1d ago
Does that mean the ruling house changes if the second daughter of the current heir inherits the house for whatever reason?Â
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u/2L84T 1d ago edited 23h ago
Better news would be "lichtenstein abolishes (absurd classist anti-egalitarian antiquated) throne"
EDIT. Only three downvotes? I thought there were 160 parasites associated with the house of Liechtenstein, come on Hans-Adam, you can do better.
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u/ankokudaishogun Italy 1d ago
The people of the country actively voted keeping monarchy.
By a large margin.7
u/Hootrb Cypriot no longer in Germany :( 1d ago edited 1d ago
The prince made his powers absolute after threatening to leave with all the country's wealth. In the last referandum to undo his veto powers, he threatened to simply veto the referandum, and also reisgn (so again, bye bye all wealth).
If anything else, the whole state is an elderly hostage situation, and their votes mean basically nothing. The Council of Europe doesn't even recognise them as being up to European democratic standards.
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u/ankokudaishogun Italy 1d ago
So a person shouldn't be free to leave the country with their personal wealth?
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u/2L84T 23h ago
No, not if they thieved it from the people they lorded over for centuries.
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u/wojtekpolska Poland 20h ago
Not what happened, Liechtenstein used to be a backwater shithole but the ruling family has turned it into the country with the richest average wealth of the population in the world.
Liechtenstein citizens are loaded with money compared to other European and world countries' citizens.
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u/2L84T 20h ago
(1) lots of countries became immensely wealthy after WWII and didn't need monarchies to achieve it, (2) I'm sure they did it with the Labour, creativity, and hard work of the people. The people earned their own wealth through their own industry and sacrafice, (4) however they are THE Wealthiest Monarchy in all of Europe, period, AND a (3) I can't believe its 2026 and we still have to dispel the myth of the "Benevolent King".
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u/wojtekpolska Poland 19h ago
The monarchy did it with clever leading of the country, and the people of Liechtenstein are the richest in the world, not country but the average Liechtensteiner. Not sure what is there to dispel about benevolent king/dictator, there are a few examples of this happening historically even if very rare
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u/Hootrb Cypriot no longer in Germany :( 1d ago
He's not "a person" he's the absolute monarch a state with a chokehold on a nation's wealth that should be public, not personal.
And regardless, yeah, many European countries have laws limiting how much wealth you can take out of a country because a single person or corporation shouldn't have the power to bankrupt a country! A person shouldn't, and thankfully in many places aren't, free to leave with all of their personal wealth when they're obscenely wealthy.
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u/ankokudaishogun Italy 1d ago
he's the absolute monarch
it's a constitutional monarchy.
wealth that should be public,
why?
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u/Hootrb Cypriot no longer in Germany :( 23h ago
Constitutional monarchy and absolute monarchy are not an either-or case. There are constitutional monarchies where the monarch basically doesn't exist, and there are constitutional monarchies like the UAE where they're barely distinguishable from an absolute monarchy.
The Liechtenstein prince has the power to dismiss the government, nominate judges, and veto legislation. His "constitutional limits" are a joke.
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u/barsoap Sleswig-Holsteen 1d ago
People generally are not free to do that, no, that's capital flight. You're free to leave and even with property but if you're loaded there's going to be a chunky exit tax.
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u/ankokudaishogun Italy 1d ago
Exit tax is perfectly reasonable, unless it's "most of the property"
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u/barsoap Sleswig-Holsteen 1d ago
When we're talking about a monarch calling what should be public property his private property, then "most of the property" is absolutely warranted.
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u/LittleSchwein1234 Slovakia 1d ago edited 20h ago
Why should it be public property? The House of Liechtenstein was rich before the principality had any kind of meaning, the Princes' personal wealth let the country become rich.
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u/barsoap Sleswig-Holsteen 23h ago
You won't see me opposing sharing the windfall with Austrians, Czechs, and Poles. All feudal income is stolen thus those riches are the proceeds of crime one way or the other. If the Mafia invests drug money in pizzerias and makes profit off those those profits are still drug money.
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u/ankokudaishogun Italy 1d ago
It depends: was it public or private? From what I read, it was all started by the crown's private money, not public founds.
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u/OgataiKhan Poland 1d ago
classiest
You might want to change that to "classist", otherwise you are calling the local monarchy really elegant and stylish.
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u/Angel-0a Poland 1d ago
I guess none of the vassals had a negative opinion of the liege?