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Were King Ludwig II of Bavaria and Tsar Simeon of the Bulgarians the only European sovereigns to succeed within the lifetimes of their paternal grandfathers? In both cases, their fathers had come to the thrones early through the forced abdications of their own fathers, albeit for different reasons. And in both cases, the deposed kings were still living when their successors died suddenly -- thereby watching their grandsons ascend the thrones.

I would imagine there to be plenty of examples of sovereigns succeeding within the lifetimes of their MATERNAL grandfathers -- since the above-mentioned scenario has been a rare scenario in royal history. After all, before modern medicine, death rates have historically been very high. Think of all the minors who became reigning monarchs (e.g. the boy kings of France).

I believe the most recent example, however, has been Queen Margrethe II of Denmark who had clearly obtained her legal majority. But longevity runs in the Bernadotte family; so it was no surprise that King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden outlived his son-in-law, King Frederik IX of Denmark. As it was, he was nearly 90 years old when his granddaughter became queen regnant.

What are additional examples of grandfathers who lived to see their grandchildren become monarchs?