Somewhere in Europe, there’s a WhatsApp group that you almost certainly aren’t invited to join.
Its members include three young women in their twenties. Like many people their age, they use it to keep in touch with friends, share experiences and discuss the challenges of everyday life.
But there’s one rather unusual thing that all three have in common.
They’re going to be queens.
Not queens consort, married to reigning kings. Queens regnant, reigning in their own right. And between them, they represent one of the most significant changes to European monarchy in centuries.
The royal group chat
The three confirmed members of the group are Princess Catharina-Amalia of the Netherlands, Princess Elisabeth of Belgium and Princess Ingrid Alexandra of Norway.
The existence of the group isn’t simply a piece of royal gossip. Catharina-Amalia has spoken publicly about it, explaining that the princesses keep in touch because they share experiences that very few other people can understand.
After all, most young women don’t have to worry about whether someone wants to be their friend because of their personality or because they’ll one day be their country’s head of state.
In an interview published in May 2026, Elisabeth also discussed the friendship between the three women. They’ve known each other for years, meet occasionally at royal events and support each other as they prepare for their future responsibilities.
There’s been speculation that Princess Leonor of Spain is also a member of the group, although that hasn’t been confirmed.
It’s an appealing story. Three young women, born into extraordinary circumstances, finding friendship with the handful of people who genuinely understand their situation.
But there’s a more interesting story hiding behind it.
A generation or two ago, some of these women wouldn’t have been allowed to inherit their thrones at all.
Three princesses, three countries, three different histories
Catharina-Amalia, Princess of Orange — Netherlands
Catharina-Amalia was born on 7 December 2003, the eldest child of the then Prince Willem-Alexander and Princess Máxima.
When her grandmother, Queen Beatrix, abdicated in 2013, her father became King Willem-Alexander and Catharina-Amalia became heir apparent.
The Netherlands has a long history of female monarchs. Before Willem-Alexander became king, the country had been ruled by three successive queens: Wilhelmina, Juliana and Beatrix. Between them, they occupied the Dutch throne for almost 123 years.
But there’s an important distinction between allowing women to inherit the throne and treating sons and daughters equally.
Until 1983, the Dutch succession rules still gave preference to male heirs. A younger brother could take precedence over his older sister.
A constitutional reform that year introduced absolute primogeniture: the eldest child inherits, regardless of sex.
Catharina-Amalia has two younger sisters, Alexia and Ariane, so the change doesn’t alter their relative positions. But it guarantees that a hypothetical younger brother wouldn’t displace her.
Elisabeth, Duchess of Brabant — Belgium
Princess Elisabeth was born on 25 October 2001, the eldest child of King Philippe and Queen Mathilde.
When her father became king in 2013, Elisabeth became Duchess of Brabant, the title traditionally held by the heir to the Belgian throne.
Belgium’s history is rather different from that of the Netherlands.
When the Belgian monarchy was established in 1831, women were excluded from the succession altogether. It wasn’t simply that sons took precedence over daughters. A daughter couldn’t inherit the throne at all.
That changed in 1991, when Belgium amended its constitution to introduce absolute primogeniture for the descendants of King Albert II.
Elisabeth was born ten years after the change. She has three younger siblings, including two brothers, Gabriel and Emmanuel.
Under the old rules, those brothers would have been eligible to inherit while Elisabeth would have been excluded.
Instead, Elisabeth is first in line and is expected to become Belgium’s first reigning queen.
That’s a remarkable change in a country that, within living memory, didn’t permit women to inherit the Crown.
Ingrid Alexandra, Crown Princess of Norway
Princess Ingrid Alexandra was born on 21 January 2004, the eldest child of the then Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit.
Her grandfather, King Harald V, died in August 2026, bringing her father to the throne as King Haakon VIII and making Ingrid Alexandra Crown Princess.
Norway changed its succession rules in 1990, introducing equal inheritance rights for sons and daughters.
But there’s an interesting complication.
The change wasn’t applied equally to everyone already in the royal family. Transitional provisions preserved male preference for people born before 1990.
That’s why Haakon remained ahead of his older sister, Princess Märtha Louise, in the succession.
For Ingrid Alexandra, born in 2004, the new rules apply in full.
She has a younger brother, Prince Sverre Magnus. Under the previous rules, he would have taken precedence over her.
Instead, Ingrid Alexandra is heir apparent.
The Norwegian royal family therefore provides a particularly neat illustration of how succession law can change between generations. Haakon inherited ahead of his older sister, but Ingrid Alexandra will inherit ahead of her younger brother.
The revolution in royal succession
For much of European history, the rules governing royal succession were based on some form of male preference.
The precise rules varied enormously. Some monarchies excluded women completely. Others allowed daughters to inherit, but only when there were no eligible sons. Still others permitted women to inherit under more complicated circumstances.
Over the last few decades, many European monarchies have abandoned these distinctions.
Sweden led the way in 1980, introducing absolute primogeniture and making Princess Victoria heir to the throne ahead of her younger brother, Carl Philip.
Victoria, now 49, is particularly interesting because the reform actually changed the identity of the heir. Carl Philip had been born Crown Prince in 1979, but the new legislation put his older sister ahead of him.
Victoria was therefore the most prominent early beneficiary of a reform that would eventually spread across much of Europe.
She’s occasionally been mentioned in connection with the royal WhatsApp group, although her membership hasn’t been confirmed. She would certainly have some valuable experience to share with its younger members.
The Netherlands followed Sweden in 1983, Norway in 1990 and Belgium in 1991.
Denmark adopted equal succession rights in 2009, while Luxembourg introduced absolute primogeniture for the descendants of Grand Duke Henri in 2011.
And the United Kingdom followed with the Succession to the Crown Act 2013, which ended male preference for people born after 28 October 2011.
The change came just in time for the next generation of the British royal family. Princess Charlotte, born in 2015, retained her place in the succession when her younger brother, Prince Louis, was born in 2018.
Under the old rules, Louis would have moved ahead of her.
These reforms have transformed the future of European monarchy. Instead of younger sons routinely displacing their older sisters, the firstborn child is increasingly recognised as the natural heir.
But not every monarchy has made the change.
What about Spain?
Princess Leonor of Spain is another young woman preparing to become queen.
Born in 2005, she’s the eldest daughter of King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia, and has been Princess of Asturias since her father’s accession in 2014.
She’s also been mentioned as a possible participant in the royal WhatsApp group, although we don’t know whether she’s actually a member.
Unlike the other three princesses, however, Leonor lives under a succession system that still gives preference to male heirs.
Article 57 of the Spanish Constitution explicitly provides that, within the same degree of relationship, a male takes precedence over a female.
Leonor is heir because she has no brothers. Her only sibling is her younger sister, Infanta Sofía.
Had her parents subsequently had a son, he would have displaced Leonor in the succession, despite being younger.
There have been discussions about changing the Spanish rules, but reform would require a particularly demanding constitutional amendment process.
For now, Leonor is expected to become Spain’s next monarch under a system that still treats sons and daughters differently.
And the princess who won’t become queen?
There’s an even more striking example in Monaco.
Prince Albert II and Princess Charlene have twins, Princess Gabriella and Prince Jacques, born on 10 December 2014.
Gabriella was born first, two minutes before her brother.
But Monaco retains male-preference primogeniture, so Jacques is heir to the throne and Gabriella is second in line.
Under the rules used in the Netherlands, Belgium or modern Norway, Gabriella would be first.
Two minutes and a constitutional provision make all the difference.
Gabriella is only 11, so she’s considerably younger than the three confirmed members of the WhatsApp group. There’s no evidence that she’s a member, but her situation provides an interesting contrast with theirs.
And there’s another young princess worth mentioning.
Princess Estelle of Sweden, Victoria’s daughter, was born in 2012 and is currently second in line to the Swedish throne, ahead of her younger brother, Prince Oscar.
Unlike her mother, Estelle has never experienced a change in her place in the succession. She was born into a system in which daughters and sons have equal inheritance rights.
At 14, she’s probably a little young for the future queens’ WhatsApp group, although perhaps she’ll join something similar when she’s older.
Between them, Victoria, Estelle and Gabriella illustrate three very different experiences of royal succession: a woman whose position was changed by reform, a girl who has never known anything different, and another whose younger brother still takes precedence.
A very different royal future
European royal families have always maintained relationships across national borders. For centuries, marriages between royal houses helped create alliances, settle disputes and occasionally trigger wars.
Today’s royal connections are rather different.
Catharina-Amalia, Elisabeth and Ingrid Alexandra aren’t being brought together by dynastic marriage negotiations. They’re friends, communicating through the same technology used by millions of people their age.
But their friendship is also a reminder of how profoundly the rules of monarchy have changed.
All three are eldest daughters. Two have younger brothers who would once have taken precedence over them, while the third lives under laws that would prevent such a displacement.
They belong to a generation in which being born a girl no longer automatically means surrendering the Crown to a younger sibling.
For all the traditions, ceremonies and centuries-old institutions surrounding Europe’s royal families, that’s a surprisingly modern development.
And perhaps the next time one of them has a difficult day, she’ll open WhatsApp and find that two future queens know exactly how she feels.