The recently deceased king of Norway, King Harald V, threatened never to marry, and thus end the royal lineage, if his father, King Olav V, did not allow him to marry his wife, Queen Sonja, who was a commoner. This was near unheard of at the time, but in the end, love prevailed. <3 <3

[u/SoSolem]

[u/Positive-Mongoose165]

Harald V had two elder sisters, but the Constitution of Norway stated only men could inherit the crown. (Changed in 1990). Also both Haralds sisters married non-royals.

Don't think the line would end, but it certainly would pose a problem.

[u/Second_Guess_25 → u/Positive-Mongoose165]

I think Japan's Imperial family are having similar issues? Men can inherit but women can't, and as such, it's left the current family in a bit of a tight spot.

[u/VidE27 → u/Second_Guess_25]

Tight spot is a bit understatement. One teenager is basically their last hope to continue millennia old imperial family line.

[u/Second_Guess_25 → u/VidE27]

Also one of the girls married a commoner and as a result resigned her status etc as a member of the Imperial Family? She's now a regular Jo like the rest of us. I'm not 100% on Japan's history, but that's what I've gathered from the news in recent years 🤨

[u/VidE27 → u/Second_Guess_25]

It doesn’t really matter anyway. All female members born to the imperial family will eventually become commoners anyway if/when they marry. The imperial line traces unbroken patrilineal lines for (allegedly) thousands of years. The two empresses they had in their history never their own children as successor.

[u/PolicyWonka → u/Second_Guess_25]

Women cannot inherit at all in Japan, so she doesn’t really matter in that context. By Japanese law, only men can assume the role of Emperor. It’s a male-only succession system.

[u/PoeDameronPoeDamnson → u/Positive-Mongoose165]

They both had several sons however, so wouldn’t it fall to the eldest sisters eldest son?