PM: Dutch Princess Could Marry a Woman and Still Be Queen

If the Dutch princess wanted to marry a woman, she could do so and still be queen, according to the country's prime minister.

Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced this week that the heir to the country's throne has the right to be in a same-sex marriage and that the gender of the heir's spouse had no bearing on their right to the throne.

The Netherlands was the first country in the world to legalize marriage equality in 2001. However, the question over a queer monarch recently arose after a new book argued that the Dutch heir couldn't be part of a same-sex couple, reported Reuters.

The current heir to the throne, Princess Amalia, will turn 18 in December. Her father is King Willem-Alexander. Little is known about her personal life, so the discussions have been only theoretical. Amalia is headed to university, according to the BBC, and there's no type of marriage happening in the near future.

Rutte said that times have changed since the question was last brought up in 2000.

"The government believes that the heir can also marry a person of the same sex," Rutte wrote in a letter addressed to Parliament. "The cabinet, therefore, does not see that an heir to the throne or the King should abdicate if he/she would like to marry a partner of the same sex."

The line of succession is still in question, but Rutte wrote that it's not necessary to decide on that yet.

"It's just very dependent on the facts and circumstances of the specific case, as you can see by looking back at how family law can change over time," Rutte wrote.

Dutch royal marriages must be approved by Parliament. Some members of the royal house, Reuters reported, have given up their location in the line of succession to marry without the legislature's approval.

Many LGBTQ+ royal heirs have had to hide their sexuality. The Washington Post notes that Spanish Duchess Luisa Isabel Alvarez de Toledo married a woman on her deathbed in 2018. Queen Elizabeth II's cousin became the first out British royal after he came out in 2016. When Prince Manvendra Singh Gohil of India came out in 2006, he received death threats.