8 Royals Who Gave Up Their Crowns

While many royals, past and present, are often hesitant to give up even a small part of their inherited power, a few have chosen to forfeit their titles and royal standing. Despite the romanticized portrayal of royal life in books, films, and television, these eight royals demonstrate that the realities of monarchy are far from the glamorous, dreamlike images we often imagine.

Princess Mako Komuro

On October 26, 2021, Princess Mako of Akishino, daughter of Japan’s Crown Prince Fumihito and Crown Princess Kiko, relinquished her royal title according to Imperial Household Law after marrying Kei Komuro, a lawyer and commoner. The two met as students at Tokyo's International Christian University in 2012 and got engaged in December 2013, although they kept their engagement private until 2017. After their wedding, the couple relocated to New York City, where Kei prepared for the New York bar exam and Mako took an unpaid role at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Those who leave the royal family are eligible for a one-time lump sum of ¥140 million, paid for by taxpayers. However, Mako declined this customary payment due to her husband’s involvement in a financial dispute with his mother’s former fiancé. The media and public have pushed for changes to Japan's Imperial Family succession laws, urging palace officials to allow women to keep their royal titles if they marry commoners, as is the case for male family members. With only three potential heirs under Imperial Household Law—one of whom is a teenager and another in their 80s—the future of the world’s oldest hereditary monarchy is at risk.

King Amadeo I of Spain

Amadeo of Savoy, an Italian prince, ascended to the Spanish throne on November 16, 1870, after being elected by Spain’s legislative body. He became King Amadeo I, the first and only monarch of Spain from the House of Savoy. Following the deposition of Isabella II during the Glorious Revolution, his reign was marked by republican revolts, political instability, and growing discontent from the Spanish populace.

Amadeo abdicated the Spanish throne on February 11, 1873—after just under three years of rule. Post-abdication, he famously called the Spanish people 'ungovernable' and returned to his previous position as Duke of Aosta in the Italian nobility. He moved back to Italy and married his French niece, Maria Letizia Bonaparte, the daughter of his sister Maria Clotilde and Prince Napoléon-Jérôme Bonaparte, the brother of the infamous French ruler Napoleon I.

Princess Christina of the Netherlands

Princess Christina of the Netherlands, the youngest daughter of Queen Juliana of the Netherlands and Prince Bernhard, met Cuban exile Jorge Guillermo, an author and assistant director at a Harlem daycare, while she was living in New York City and teaching music under an alias. Christina was ninth in line to the Dutch throne but renounced her claim shortly before announcing her engagement to Guillermo. Despite the Dutch public's disapproval of her marrying a Catholic, they wed in the Netherlands on June 28, 1975.

The couple had three children and amassed a valuable fine art collection before divorcing in April 1996 after over two decades of marriage. Following the separation, Christina moved back to New York City with their children, while Guillermo stayed in Belgium to continue his studies at Catholic University in Leuven.

Diocletian

Diocletian, once a lowborn military officer in Emperor Numerian’s guard, rose through the ranks and became Emperor of Rome in 284 CE after Numerian's suspicious death during a military campaign in Persia. Diocletian defeated Numerian’s older brother, Carinus, in battle and seized control of the Western Roman Empire, becoming Rome’s sole ruler. His reign saw significant tax reforms and civil stabilization, but also sparked the last and most violent persecution of Christians in 303 CE after consulting with an oracle in Miletus.

After a prolonged period of illness, Diocletian stepped down from his over 20-year reign and abdicated the Roman throne on May 1, 305 CE. He became the first Roman emperor to voluntarily relinquish power. Diocletian retired to a quiet life in his homeland of Dalmatia, where he spent his final years tending to his garden. Despite numerous requests from former colleagues asking him to return to public life, Diocletian remained content in his peaceful palace until his death around 311 CE.

Christina, Queen of Sweden

Christina became the heir presumptive to the Swedish throne at the tender age of 6 after the death of her father, Gustavus Adolphus, during the Battle of Lutzen in November 1632. For the rest of Christina's childhood, Sweden was governed by a Royal Regency Council led by Axel Oxenstierna, a trusted advisor to her late father. She was officially crowned queen in 1644 upon reaching the age of 18.

Unconventional, intelligent, and widely well-read, Christina is most remembered for her strong support of the arts and her well-known tendency toward androgyny. However, her firm opposition to marriage often caused tension with members of her royal court. Amid growing criticism of her reportedly extravagant spending, Christina declared her intention to abdicate the throne and convert to Catholicism in 1654. She relinquished the crown to her cousin, Charles Gustav, and left Sweden to live the rest of her life in exile in Rome.

Princess Ubolratana

Thai Princess Ubolratana became romantically involved with fellow student Peter Jensen while studying nuclear physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, much to the dismay of her royal family. After they married in 1972 when she was just 21 years old, Ubolratana relinquished her title as required by royal law upon marrying a foreigner. Despite opposition from the Thai royal family, the couple had three children and remained married for 26 years before divorcing in 1998. Ubolratana and her children stayed in the U.S. until 2001. Upon returning to Thailand, she quickly resumed her royal duties, representing the family at state events and later launching a public anti-drug campaign for at-risk youth.

In 2019, Ubolratana sent shockwaves through the royal family once again by announcing her candidacy for Thailand’s Prime Minister under the now-defunct, left-leaning Thai Save the Nation Party. Just hours after making her candidacy public, King Rama X—her younger brother and the reigning King of Thailand—publicly mocked her bid, denouncing her unprecedented involvement in public politics as a member of the royal family and effectively derailing her campaign.

Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor

Charles V served as Holy Roman Emperor from 1519 until he relinquished the title in 1556. A member of the powerful Austrian House of Habsburg, he inherited not only the distinctive Habsburg jaw—a congenital trait likely caused by generations of inbreeding—but also an array of aristocratic titles including Duke of Burgundy, Count of Flanders, and ultimately Holy Roman Emperor.

Charles struggled to maintain control over his vast empire throughout his reign. His time on the throne was marked by ongoing Ottoman threats, expensive conflicts with France, and the rise of religious reformations that undermined the Habsburg dynasty’s hold over the Holy Roman Empire. After ruling for over 30 years, Charles began delegating parts of his empire to other Habsburgs in 1554, leaving the Spanish Empire to his son, Philip II. Weakened by constant battles and chronic gout, Charles retired to a monastic life at the Monastery of Yuste in 1557. He died there on September 21, 1558, at the age of 58.

King Edward VIII

Upon the death of his father, King George V, Edward VIII was crowned King of the United Kingdom on January 20, 1936. His reign, however, was short-lived, lasting less than a year. On December 11, 1936, just months after ascending the throne, he announced his decision to abdicate in favor of marrying Wallis Simpson, a twice-divorced American socialite with rumored Nazi sympathies. The couple moved to France before undertaking a controversial tour of Nazi Germany, which culminated in a private meeting with Adolf Hitler.

King George VI conferred upon Edward and Wallis the titles of Duke and Duchess of Windsor, but he withheld the courtesy title of 'Her Royal Highness' from Wallis. Edward, a lifelong smoker, passed away from laryngeal cancer in 1972. Following his death, Wallis continued to hold her title as Duchess of Windsor and chose to lead a private, solitary existence at Villa Windsor in Paris.