Star Wars: Why Is Leia a Princess? Alderaan Royalty Explained

Ever since Leia Organa was introduced in ‘Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope,’ she was often called a princess. Of course, at first, it seemed she was the prototypical damsel-in-distress princess the hero needed to save. However, she has proven herself to be more than just that because she was a heroic Rebel herself during the events of the original trilogy. Still, why was Leia a princess?

Leia Organa was a princess because she was the daughter of Bail and Breha Organa, who were the rulers of Alderaan before its destruction. A monarchy ruled Alderaan, and that meant that Breha was its queen. As such, because she was the daughter of the ruling queen, Leia was a princess.

The original Star Wars trilogy never properly mentioned that Leia was the daughter of the queen of Alderaan. That means that not a lot of people were aware of why or how Leia was a princess. Of course, this was all explained in the other forms of Star Wars media. That said, let’s look at why Leia Organa was a princess.

Alderaan was ruled by a monarch

One of the things that we know about the different systems found all over Star Wars is that they have different forms of government. In that regard, some forms of government are not exactly similar to others. For example, Naboo was ruled by an elected queen, often a young girl, due to how “innocent” a teenage girl’s thoughts were compared to older women. And some other systems are more patriarchal in nature.

Of course, we also know that the different systems that belonged to the Galactic Republic or the Galactic Empire were represented by senators selected to become the voice of that system in the Senate. And one of the most outspoken senators active during the final days of the Republic and the middle of the reign of the Empire was Senator Bail Organa, who was the representative of the system of Alderaan.

Bail was a champion of peace and justice. That was why he was Padmé Amidala’s greatest ally in the Senate and was her trusted confidant during the events of the Clone Wars. In fact, they were both similar in the sense that they both wanted the war to end in a peaceful manner and for the Republic to focus more on peace efforts instead of amassing more armies that could only prolong the war with the Separatists.

The reason why Bail Organa was a champion of peace was the fact that he came from a very peaceful system. He represented Alderaan, one of the most peaceful systems in the entire galaxy, similar to how Naboo was just as peaceful. That’s why Bail and Padmé were allies in the Senate, as they both came from pacifist and peaceful systems.

Of course, the leadership of Alderaan was one of the reasons why this system was pacifistic in nature and had no armies. Similar to Naboo, Alderaan was also ruled by a monarch. The difference was that the monarchy in Alderaan was not elected but was hereditary. Due to that fact, the ruling queens come from the same family, the Organa family.

During the Clone Wars and the Empire’s reign, Alderaan’s ruling monarch was Breha Organa, the wife of Bail Organa. She could claim the right to rule Alderaan through her Day of Demand. However, it was through her Day of Demand that she suffered a severe fall that made her incapable of bearing children.

As such, even though she became the ruling monarch of Alderaan, Breha could not bear any children with Bail. That’s why they could never conceive a child of their own. During the final days of the Republic, Bail and Breha were without any children. And that’s why Breha did not have a successor throughout her life.

Leia was the adopted child of the queen

We know that Padmé Amidala was pregnant with Anakin Skywalker’s children. She eventually gave birth to twins named Luke and Leia. However, the twins were separated at birth for their safety so that the Empire couldn’t find them. The Lars family took Luke on Tatooine because Owen Lars was the step-brother of Anakin. Meanwhile, Leia was adopted by Bail Organa because he and Breha always wanted to have a child.

In that regard, Leia grew up her entire life in luxury because she was the (secret) adopted daughter of Bail and Breha Organa. She belonged to the ruling family of Alderaan, and that’s why she was a pampered child. But because of that, she was groomed in the world of politics quite early, although she always had an idea that she was adopted.

Leia, in fact, realized in the ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ series that she was adopted as she talked to Obi-Wan about her real mother. She even thought that Kenobi was her real father, only for him to tell her that he wished he had been. In that regard, Leia was aware that she was not the real daughter of Bail and Breha, although she loved them as her real parents.

Of course, the fact that Leia was the daughter of the ruling monarch of Alderaan meant that she was a princess. In fact, she was also being groomed to succeed both of her parents in their respective positions. She was set to become the next senator of Alderaan until her mother’s death. And upon her mother’s death, she was set to become the next queen of Alderaan.

But we all know that Alderaan had been destroyed by the power of the Death Star in ‘A New Hope,’ and that’s why Leia remained a princess in title only. She was no longer the princess of an existing world. Despite that, many people still saw her as a true leader. The surviving Alderaanians saw her as their rightful queen, although she never became a queen because there was no longer a world for her to rule over as a queen.

Instead, Leia dove into the world of politics and became an important politician during the time of the New Republic. After her political career failed due to her rivals revealing that she was the daughter of Darth Vader, she retired from the world of politics and started serving as one of the generals of the Resistance. In that regard, by the time of the sequel trilogy, she was already General Leia instead of Princess Leia.

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