Queen Margrethe of Denmark Is Now Europe's Only Ruling Female Monarch After Queen Elizabeth's Death

Queen Margrethe II of Denmark is carrying the torch for Europe's female royals.

After Queen Elizabeth II died at age 96 on Sept. 8, Queen Margrethe, 82, of Denmark has become Europe's only ruling female monarch.

Having reigned for more than 50 years since her father King Frederick IX died in 1972, she's now also the longest-serving current head of state. (Queen Elizabeth served as monarch for 70 years — a record in the U.K.)

Queen Margrethe became the first woman allowed to inherit the throne in her country after the 1953 Act of Succession "gave women the right of succession to the Danish Throne... however only secondarily," according to Denmark's official website.

The Act of Succession was amended again in 2009, "when full equality in the succession to the throne was introduced," per Denmark's website. "That means the regent's oldest child — regardless of gender — inherits the throne (so-called primogeniture)."

Europe has several women in line for a throne, including Sweden's Crown Princess Victoria, 45, the eldest child of King Carl XVI Gustaf and his wife Queen Silvia.

Queen Margrethe recently led a moment of silence in honor of Queen Elizabeth during her own Golden Jubilee last weekend, when she celebrated her 50-year reign at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen. In addition to the 60 seconds of silence, Margrethe scaled back a majority of the weekend's festivities out of respect for Elizabeth.

Along with her son Frederik, Crown Prince of Denmark, Margrethe was in attendance at Queen Elizabeth's state funeral on Monday, which culminated in the third and final procession of the day at St. George's Chapel in Windsor Castle.

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Queen Elizabeth died over 16 months after Prince Philip, her husband of 73 years, died at age 99 in April 2021. She was succeeded immediately by her eldest son, King Charles III, 73.

The Queen's coffin traveled to Westminster Hall in a solemn procession on Wednesday, and it has since been lying-in-state for mourners to pay their respects. More than 2,000 people from around the world gathered Monday at Westminster Abbey for the Queen's funeral before she was laid to rest at Windsor Castle.