Famous 21st Century Empresses & Queens

The Queen of the United Kingdom and 15 other Commonwealth realms, Queen Elizabeth II was the longest-reigning British monarch in history. The first child of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother , she ascended to the throne in 1952. Despite the media criticism of the royal family, she continued to be a popular figure in the UK.

Queen Rania of Jordan is the current queen consort of Jordan. Since her marriage to Abdullah II of Jordan, Rania has focused on improving education and health in Jordan. In 2005, Queen Rania joined hands with the Ministry of Education to launch the Queen Rania Award for Excellence in Education, an annual teachers’ award.

Farah Pahlavi was the Shahbanu of Iran from 1961 to 1979, as the wife of Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Though she was not allowed to hold a political role, she worked for many charities and helped found Iran's first American-style university. She has continued her involvement in charity work even after her husband’s death in 1980. 

Beatrix of the Netherlands reigned as Queen of the Netherlands for 33 years. At the time of her abdication in favor of her son, she was the oldest-reigning monarch in the history of the monarchy of the Netherlands. As the queen, Beatrix had a huge impact on the Dutch people and continues to serve as a patron of several organizations.

Queen Letizia of Spain was initially a journalist for EFE and ABC and then worked as an anchor for Televisión Española and CNN+. She had covered events such as the 9/11 attacks. She is married to King Felipe VI of Spain and was previously married to a high-school teacher.

Juliana of the Netherlands was the Queen of the Netherlands from 1948 to 1980, during which she remained a popular member of the Dutch royal family. Her reign witnessed the decolonization and independence of Suriname and the Dutch East Indies (present-day Indonesia). Several important places, including the Princess Juliana International Airport, are named after her.

Often compared to actor Hedy Lamarr, for her beauty, Fawzia Fuad, the daughter of Fuad I, was an Egyptian princess who later became the empress of Iran, as Mohammad Reza Shah’s first wife. An unhappy marriage led to her divorce, following which she married diplomat Ismail Chirine.

Jetsun Pema, the Bhutanese “Dragon Queen” and the wife of King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, is the world’s youngest queen consort. A descendant of a Bhutanese noble family, Pema was educated in India and London, and excelled in basketball. A national style icon, she is often compared to Princess Diana.

German-Brazilian Silvia Renate Sommerlath is a trained interpreter and has also served the Argentine consulate in Munich. She met Swedish crown prince Carl Gustaf while serving as a hostess at the 1972 Olympic Games and later got married to him and became Queen Silvia of Sweden.

Princess Anne Antoinette came to be known as the Queen of Romania after her marriage to Romanian king Michael I. However, she was actually an uncrowned queen, since her husband was forced to abdicate by the Communists shortly before their marriage. She had also been a Free French forces nurse.

Mathilde, the present Queen consort of the Belgians, became the first native-born queen in the history of Belgium after her husband Prince Philippe, Duke of Brabant ascended to the throne of Belgium in July 2013. Their eldest child, Princess Elisabeth, is the heir apparent to the Belgian throne. The queen has founded and helped charities to reduce poverty in Belgium.

The queen consort of the Netherlands, Queen Máxima is the daughter of Argentine politician Jorge Zorreguieta. She initially worked in the sales departments of HSBC and Deutsche Bank. She apparently didn’t know she was meeting a prince when she met her future husband, King Willem-Alexander, at the Seville Spring Fair.

A descendant of Tsar Nicholas I of Russia, Catherine Ivanovna Romanova was practically the last princess of Russia. She lost her father in exile after the fall of the empire and was discouraged from learning Russian by her mother, who wanted them to leave their past behind.

Princess Xenia Andreevna of Russia is best known as one of the great nieces of Nicholas II, the last Roman emperor. As a child, she was well-versed in ballet and was privately educated under a British nanny. Though she married twice, she had no children from either of her husbands.