Liechtenstein’s ruling family has approved a historic change to the country’s succession rules, allowing women to inherit the throne on the same basis as men for the first time.
The announcement was made on August 15, Liechtenstein’s national day, marking the end of a system that had long excluded women from the line of succession and previously attracted criticism from the United Nations.
Under amendments to the ruling dynasty’s so-called house laws, Liechtenstein will introduce absolute primogeniture. Succession will therefore be determined by birth order rather than gender, bringing the small Alpine monarchy closer to the system already used in most European royal families.
The changes were approved by the required two-thirds majority of those entitled to vote under the family’s rules.
The reform takes effect immediately but will not be applied retrospectively. Princesses already born will not move ahead of younger brothers as a result of the change.
For generations, women were effectively absent from Liechtenstein’s succession. Under the previous rules, a woman could inherit only if there were no eligible male descendants elsewhere in the dynasty. Otherwise, daughters were excluded from the succession altogether.
The issue had previously drawn international scrutiny. In 2004, a UN committee criticised Liechtenstein over its succession arrangements, with the country subsequently retaining its male-preference system for more than two decades.
The current heir, Prince Alois, has served as regent since 2004, when his father, Prince Hans-Adam II, transferred responsibility for the day-to-day running of the principality to him while remaining the reigning monarch.
Alois and his wife, Princess Sophie, have four children. Their eldest, Prince Joseph Wenzel, 31, remains second in line to the throne. Their eldest daughter, Princess Marie Caroline, has never previously appeared in the succession because of the old rules.
She will not now move ahead of her younger brothers, however, because the reform applies only to descendants born after the new provisions came into force.
The royal household said the principle behind the reform was that the throne should ultimately pass to the person best prepared to assume the responsibilities of the position.
The decision places Liechtenstein alongside a growing majority of European monarchies that have abandoned male-preference succession.
Britain made a similar change through the Succession to the Crown Act 2013, ending the principle under which a younger son could displace an older daughter. The reform applied to those born after October 28, 2011, meaning Princess Charlotte retained her place ahead of her younger brother, Prince Louis.
Only Spain and Monaco among Europe’s monarchies continue to operate systems in which male heirs take precedence over female siblings.
In Spain, the arrangement has no immediate practical consequence: King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia have two daughters, with their elder child, Princess Leonor, 20, serving as heir to the throne.
Monaco presents a more striking example of the old system. Prince Jacques is the heir despite being born only minutes after his twin sister, Princess Gabriella, because the principality’s succession rules give precedence to males.
Liechtenstein’s decision now leaves those arrangements increasingly isolated in a Europe where royal succession is overwhelmingly based on birth order rather than gender.
