7 Royals Who Gave Up Their Crowns

Whether by choice or by force, many royals have made the difficult decision to give up their titles. Some, like King Edward VIII, did it for love, while others stepped down to save their lives.

Here are eight royals who abdicated the throne or relinquished their titles.

Without a male heir, King Gustav II Adolf of Sweden named his daughter Christina as his successor. After his death in the Thirty Years' War, Christina became Sweden’s first female monarch at just six years old. She ruled over a kingdom that included Finland and Estonia, as well as parts of Norway, Germany and Russia.  

Gustav II had insisted that Christina receive a “princely education.” She was fluent in Latin, German, French, Italian and Spanish, and read Hebrew and Arabic. She was also an accomplished equestrian, swordswoman and military strategist. When Christina turned 18, she ran the Swedish court like an intellectual salon, and even recruited French philosopher René Descartes to be her tutor—however, he died of pneumonia during his first Swedish winter.

Pressured to marry and provide an heir, Christina refused. At 28 years old, she abdicated the Swedish throne and named her cousin Charles X Gustav as the successor. Drawn to Catholicism, Christina left Sweden and relocated to Rome. There, she penned biographies of Julius Caesar and Alexander the Great, a book of pithy maxims ("Fools are more to be feared than villains") and an unfinished autobiography. In her essays and letters, she defended religious tolerance and promoted gender equality.  

Pedro I's father was King John VI of Portugal. In 1807, when Napoleon invaded Portugal, the nine-year-old Pedro I and the royal family fled to the Portuguese colony of Brazil. After Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo, King John VI returned to Portugal to retake the throne, but Pedro I stayed behind.  

When the Portuguese parliament demanded that Pedro I also return to Lisbon, he was defiant. On September 7, 1822, he issued the “Cry of Ipiranga,” declaring Brazil’s independence. After a brief war, Pedro I was victoriously crowned Brazil's first emperor.

The death of King John VI in 1826 posed a new dilemma: Pedro I was technically also heir to the Portuguese throne. Knowing that he couldn’t rule both kingdoms, he abdicated the Portuguese throne to his daughter Maria. But the decision fueled political rivals’ doubts about his loyalty.

To diffuse the situation, Pedro stepped down in 1831, handing the Brazilian crown to his five-year-old son, Pedro II. The double abdication ensured that his royal family would remain in power in both Portugal and Brazil.

The Romanov Dynasty ruled Russia for more than 300 years before the tsarist regime collapsed in 1917. 

Tsar Nicholas II ascended to the throne in 1894 and ruled Russia during an incredibly turbulent period. In 1905, Russia suffered a humiliating defeat in the Russo-Japanese War. That same year, imperial troops opened fire on peaceful demonstrators during the Bloody Sunday Massacre, sparking the first Russian Revolution. Nicholas II held onto power by promising more civil liberties and a representative government, but he failed to deliver.

In 1914, he led Russia into World War I. While Nicholas was away at war, his wife Tsarina Alexandra began firing officials at the behest of her advisor, Rasputin. By 1917, public fury toward the Romanovs reached a fever pitch when Russian soldiers threatened to abandon the war unless Nicholas II abdicated.

During the February Revolution of 1917, starving Russians took to the streets of Petrograd and violently clashed with the tsar’s army. He was convinced by his generals to abdicate the throne on March 2, 1917. Nicholas II, his wife and their five children were executed on July 16, 1918.  

On December 11, 1936, a radio address shocked the nation. King Edward VIII renounced the throne of the United Kingdom to marry Wallis Simpson, an American divorcée. 

"I have found it impossible to carry on the heavy burden of responsibility and to discharge the duties of King, as I would wish to do, without the help and support of the woman I love,” said Edward VIII, who abdicated the throne to his younger brother, King George VI. 

Edward began his relationship with Simpson in the early 1930s. The controversial affair was openly reported in the American press, but blacked out by British newspapers. When it became clear he planned on marrying Simpson—twice-divorced—the Church of England condemned the union. The story finally broke in the British press and sparked a constitutional crisis.

Edward signed his abdication on December 10, 1936, after ruling for less than a year.  

King Leopold III ruled Belgium when Nazi Germany invaded in 1940. While the Belgian government fled to Paris, Leopold made the controversial decision to remain in Brussels, leading an 18-day resistance before surrendering. His choice to stay in occupied Belgium sparked outrage and the exiled Belgian prime minister called the king a "traitor.” It’s unclear how much Leopold III collaborated with the German forces, but his 1940 meeting with Hitler brought more accusations. In 1944, the Nazis took Leopold III and his family to Germany and then Austria as prisoners.

After the war, Belgians struggled to resolve the “royal question”—whether King Leopold III should be allowed back to the throne. For the next six years, the king and his wife lived exiled in Switzerland after parliament voted to bar his return.

In 1950, the “royal question” was put to a popular vote. Although a slight majority of Belgians approved of Leopold III’s return, the vote was sharply divided along sectarian lines. Fearing a civil war, Leopold III abdicated in 1951 and his son King Baudouin took the crown.  

King Farouk I was 16 years old when he ascended to the throne of Egypt in 1936. He inherited vast wealth—including five palaces, 200 cars and two yachts—but was unprepared to lead Egypt through a political minefield that included World War II and the creation of the State of Israel.  

During World War II, Farouk bristled against the demands of the British government, which had exercised influence in Egypt since the late 19th century. In 1936, Britain and Egypt signed a treaty to come to each other’s aid. But when Britain declared war on Germany in 1940, Egypt was slow to respond. In 1942, British officials stormed the royal palace and demanded Farouk’s abdication. Instead, he agreed to their terms and remained on the throne.

After the war, Farouk joined other Arab countries in condemning the creation of the State of Israel. Egypt was one of five nations—along with Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria—that attacked Israel in 1948. The war ended with a crushing Arab defeat and Farouk’s critics accused the king and his ministers of stealing funds that had left the Egyptian army underfunded and unprepared.

In 1952, Farouk was deposed by a military coup. He abdicated the throne to his son without resistance and went into exile in Italy.  

Not all monarchs are forced to abdicate because of scandals or coups. In 2019, Emperor Akihito became the first Japanese emperor to voluntarily step down in more than 200 years, citing old age (he was 85), declining health and a belief that a younger emperor would better serve the Japanese people.

After Japan's defeat in World War II, the role of Japanese emperor had been stripped of power and became a symbolic figurehead. Akihito was crowned emperor in 1989 and strove to forge a close relationship with the Japanese people. A staunch pacifist, he expressed remorse for Japanese aggression during World War II.

Akihito publicly expressed his desire to step down in 2016, but the Japanese constitution required service for life. After a public pressure campaign, the Japanese parliament passed an exception to the rule just for him.