Nestled in the mountains of the Pyrenees, between France and Spain, exists an often-forgotten-about
microstate – Andorra. The country has no airport, so the only way in or out is through
one of their (much larger, more powerful) neighbours.
But aside from Andorra’s geographic location and size, it has some other quirks that make
it a rather unique country. First of all, Andorra is a principality. There exist a couple
other principalities in Europe (Liechtenstein and Monaco), but where Andorra differs, is
that it’s not ruled by a prince, but by two princes. Each with equal, joint sovereignty.
The constitution of Andorra defines the country as a “co-principality”. But what makes
this even stranger, is that these princes are not Andorran, do not live in Andorra,
and the titles are not inherited through any kind of noble lineage.
The princes of Andorra are: the Bishop of Urgell, which is a province of Catalonia.
And, more bizarrely, the president of France. This means that Andorra has a prince that
is democratically elected… but not by the people who the prince is supposed to serve.
So how did the country end up like this? With two princes, one of which is the neighbouring
country’s president?
To fully understand the situation, we need to go all the way back to the creation of
Andorra, really. About 1,200 years ago. This was a time in which the Moors ruled most of
the Iberian peninsula. There were worries about Islamic expansion to the rest of
Europe, so a buffer zone between the peninsula and Christian France was created, the Marca
Hispanica, as it was known. The Andorran people were granted a charter by the first ever Holy
Roman Emperor, Charlemagne, for their help in the fight against the Moors.
In the 9th century, the Count of Urgell was named overlord of “the valleys”, as it
was then known. A descendent of the Count later passed the lordship over to the Bishop
of Urgell, beginning more than 1000 ruling over the Andorran valleys.
In the 11th century, the Bishop of Urgell was worried about some kind of military action,
given that his territory was completely defenseless. And so he sought protection from the Lord
of Caboet, a Catalan nobleman, in exchange for being co-ruler. However, this arrangement
ended up causing decades of dispute between their descendants.
Through a series of political marriages, the Lord of Caboet title was passed to the Count
of Foix. The territorial dispute was put to an end in 1278 through mediation from the
King of Aragon. Both lords signed a treaty known as a “paréage” – basically a
feudal agreement that establishes joint sovereignty.
This agreement was effectively the founding of the country of Andorra as we know it, as
a co-principality, ruled by the Bishop of Urgell and the Count of Foix.
Now in 1505, Germaine of Foix married Ferdinand II of Aragon. Ferdinand was basically the
first ever king of a united Spain, after his first marriage to Isabella I of Castile. Together
they had a daughter, Joanna the Mad, who later went on to marry Philip the Handsome, a member
of the House of Habsburg. Their son, Charles, would go on to be the Holy Roman Emperor,
as well as king of Spain, Archduke of Austria, and many other noble titles.
In 1519, Charles granted lordship of Andorra to Germaine of Foix’s family line in perpetuity.
Now, looking at this family tree, Germaine may seem like an odd choice… as she was
his step-grandmother -- the 2nd wife of his late grandfather. But if we zoom out a little,
we can see that, actually, Charles and Germaine were related by blood. They shared a great-grandfather,
John II of Aragon, making them 2nd cousins.
Of course, at this point you’re probably looking at that marriage between Germaine
and Ferdinand… Germaine married her grand-uncle. This means that her grandmother was also her
sister-in-law, and her great-grandfather, also her father-in-law.
Anyway, there were no surviving children from the marriage, so the lordship of Andorra passed
through Germaine’s older brother’s family line, and the Count of Foix title was eventually
passed down to Henry III of Navarre. Or, as he’s more commonly known by history: Henry
IV of France. He became king of France in 1589.
In 1607, Henry signed an edict which transferred the co-prince of Andorra title to the head
of state of France. Therefore, every king of France after Henry IV was also prince of
Andorra. But of course, a lot has happened in France in the last 400 or so years, and
the country no longer has a king. France is now a republic, so its head of state is a
president.
So today, the current president of France, Emmanuel Macron, is one of the two princes
of Andorra.
Now, you might be wondering to yourself… how much power do these princes actually have?
Well, in short: not much. The co-prince title is largely ceremonial these days. Neither
of the princes is actually from Andorra, nor do they live in the country. In fact, both
princes appoint their own “personal representative” to deal with local matters on their behalf.
Today, Andorra has a modern government, with its own parliament of 28 members from different
political parties, headed by a prime minister. All of whom are democratically elected for
a term of 4 years.
These changes are due to Andorra adopting a new constitution in 1993. Until then, the
previously mentioned paréage from more than 700 years before, had been the basis for the
country’s basic law. Updating their constitution, bringing the country into the modern era,
allowed Andorra to finally join the United Nations. This change facilitated the country’s
transition from relative isolation, sandwiched between France and Spain, to much more cooperation
with the rest of Europe and even the world. Andorra was no longer bound by its geographic
location.
From the 1990s onwards, Andorra became a popular tourist destination. Primarily known for exactly
two things: hitting the ski slopes, and; duty-free shopping.
Andorra is not a member of the European Union, but oddly, it does use the Euro as its official
currency through a monetary agreement with the EU.
With a population of 77,000 and a land area of 467 square kilometres, Andorra is one of
the smallest and least populous countries in the world. However, it’s also among the
oldest countries in the world, having been around for arguably more than a thousand years.
The co-princes of Andorra are a vestige of the country’s medieval roots, but ultimately
play only a minor role in the ruling of the country today.
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