Look closely at the picture above. These are Europe’s future heads of state. Five heirs to the throne were gathered at the Palace in Oslo on the occasion of the celebration of Princess Ingrid Alexandra’s official day on Friday. Ingrid Alexandra of Norway (18) Elisabeth of Belgium (20) Catharina-Amalia of the Netherlands (18) Estelle of Sweden (10) Charles of Luxembourg (2) A new generation of heirs to the throne is growing. Female rulers And it is gradually largely the girls who will take over the monarchies in Europe. Princess Ingrid Alexandra is one of several female heirs to the throne who are now soon adults. In five of the European kingdoms, there will eventually be female rulers: in Norway, Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain. Spanish Princess Leonor (16) was not present at the celebration in Oslo and is thus not in the picture. But as the Spanish royal couple’s eldest daughter, she is Europe’s youngest crown princess and Spain’s next monarch. In Norway, it is true that Princess Ingrid Alexandra is not the first in the line of succession. Her father, Crown Prince Haakon, is our next monarch, before she will take over the throne after him. – I am very grateful for the opportunity I have, and think that I can do a lot with it. One can of course dream away and wonder what a completely different life would have been like. I do too. But that’s not the life I live, so it’s hard to imagine not being in the role I’m in, Princess Ingrid Alexandra told news when she came of age. Princess Ingrid Alexandra sat between grandfather King Harald and father Crown Prince Haakon during the gala dinner at the Palace on Friday. She is number two in the line of succession to the Norwegian throne. Photo: Håkon Mosvold Larsen / NTB Would not have a salary Both Princess Catharina-Amalia of the Netherlands and Princess Elisabeth of Belgium are number one in the line of inheritance in their home countries and are thus what we in Norway would have called crown princesses. The Dutch princess should actually have received an apanasje, a royal salary, of several million kroner from the age of 18, but sent a letter to the prime minister and wrote that she did not want the money. The reason was that she should have a rest year after high school, before she starts studying, and that she therefore thought it was wrong to receive royal salary, as long as she could not work full time as a crown princess. “I find it uncomfortable as long as I do nothing for the money, and while other students have it much harder, especially during this period of the coronavirus,” she wrote. Princess Elisabeth will take over the Belgian throne from her father King Philippe. Photo: JOHANNA GERON / Reuters Princess Elisabeth was only eleven years old when she became the Crown Princess of Belgium, as the eldest child of King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of Belgium. In Belgium, previously, as in Norway, only princes could inherit the throne, but that law was changed in 1991. Elisabeth thus becomes the first reigning queen in Belgium when she one day takes over the throne from her father. When she turned 18 in 2019, she stated: – Belgium can trust me. Young heirs to the throne Princess Estelle of Sweden and Prince Charles of Luxembourg are, like Princess Ingrid Alexandra, number two in the line of succession in their homelands. As the two youngest in the historical picture from the Palace in Oslo on Friday, it is probably still many years until they become heads of state. Princess Estelle is the eldest child of Swedish Crown Princess Victoria and will inherit the throne from her. But despite her young age, Estelle has already participated in a number of official assignments. Princess Estelle and little brother Prince Oscar went to a gala dinner in Oslo together. Photo: Lise Åserud / NTB When the procession with foreign royals went through the Palace in Oslo on Friday, on the way to the gala dinner for Princess Ingrid Alexandra, Princess Estelle went hand in hand with her little brother Prince Oscar (6), while the parents followed behind. Little Prince Charles, two years old, is the son of Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume of Luxembourg and the grandson of the reigning Grand Duke Henri. In addition to those you see in the picture at the top of this case, we find 16-year-old Prince Christian, heir to the throne in Denmark and the eldest child of Crown Prince Frederik. Young heirs to the throne at the age of Norwegian Ingrid Alexandra. Someone to share experiences with about a job that very few others are aware of. – I am so lucky that I have many heirs of the same age in Europe now, so I hope that we can use each other eventually. We have quite a lot of contact, said Princess Ingrid Alexandra when news interviewed her in connection with her 18th birthday in January. – You peers, is it the case that you communicate on Snapchat – do you have a separate group for the young royals in Europe? – Not yet. Maybe it will come eventually, the princess laughed.
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