queen regnant
Sign in to saveAlso known as queen, female monarch
female monarch who rules a country in her own right
~10 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Margaret I was the queen regnant of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden in the late 14th and early 15th centuries.
A queen regnant (/kwiːn/; pl.: queens regnant) or simply queen is a female monarch, equivalent in rank, title and position to a king. She reigns suo jure (in her own right) over a realm known as a kingdom; as opposed to a queen consort, who is married to a reigning king; or a queen regent, who is the guardian of a child monarch and rules pro tempore in the child's stead or instead of her husband who is absent from the realm, be it de jure in sharing power or de facto in ruling alone. A queen regnant is sometimes called a woman king. A princess, duchess, or grand duchess regnant is a female monarch who reigns suo jure over a principality or (grand) duchy; an empress regnant is a female monarch who reigns suo jure over an empire.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “queen regnant” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.