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In Attack of the Clones Padmé says:

Padme: I wasn't the youngest queen ever elected, but now that I think back on it, I'm not sure I was old enough. I'm not sure I was ready...

This suggests that the previous youngest ruler was also a woman. In Episode I we see Padme as the queen, and in Episode II and III there is another woman in charge...

So, does Naboo only have female rulers? Is there any sources showing a male king?

LcSalazar
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    I highly doubt you will find a female king... So putting "male" before king is kinda pointless :P Good question though, +1 – LepelLeLama Apr 02 '15 at 06:31
  • A note about wording: the quote you provide does not support your statement "This suggests that the previous youngest ruler was also a woman." Padme says "I wasn't the youngest queen ever elected." The youngest elected queen could have been years ago, decades ago, centuries ago, etc. It just means that there is at least one queen who was younger than Padme(at the time of election) at some point in the past. – Shaz Apr 02 '15 at 12:34
  • @Ryan - Sorry, maybe I didn't express myself in the right way... When I said "the previous youngest", I actually meant anytime in the past, not the immediate predecessor. Please, feel free to rephrase it, as English is not my first language. Thanks for the note. – LcSalazar Apr 02 '15 at 12:59
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    @LcSalazar Even so, youngest queen and youngest ruler are not necessarily the same thing. Padmé could well have been the youngest queen ever elected without being the youngest ruler ever elected, if the only ruler(s) ever elected at a younger age than her had been kings. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Apr 02 '15 at 14:28
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    Unless we are to believe that Padme thinks that the suitable age to rule is different for a male or a female and the age is younger for boys (unlikely), it's a pretty strange way to phrase this sentence unless all the rulers are queens. I personally think it's pretty obvious that it's meant to imply that Naboo has only queens. – ThePopMachine Apr 02 '15 at 14:44
  • @ThePopMachine I disagree. A proof by example: Let's say there was a King elected at age 9, a King elected at age 12, a Queen elected at age 10(all of these being in the past), and our new Queen P elected at age 11. Saying "[Queen P] wasn't the youngest queen ever elected" remains logical. There was 1 queen younger than her, and the statement says nothing about kings, so there could be kings elected in the past that are both younger and older than her(at the time of election). – Shaz Apr 02 '15 at 15:26
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    @Ryan: You're missing the point. I'm not arguing about what the language technically says. I'm saying I don't think Padme would phrase it that way unless all the rulers were queens. Of course the alternative is possible if you parse the letter of the statement. – ThePopMachine Apr 02 '15 at 15:37
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    @LepelLeLama: I've got four words for you: Jadwiga, King of Poland. I'm not privy to the royal traditions of Naboo, but as you can see a gender qualifier is not as weird as you think. – mikołak Apr 02 '15 at 18:53
  • @TheTerribleSwiftTomato - that's rather interesting! Thanks for the info :D – LepelLeLama Apr 07 '15 at 05:44

2 Answers2

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As with everything Star Wars, this answer comes to you in two parts:

Canon

No, it is possible for Naboo to be ruled by a male; at least one King of Naboo has been identified in canon sources:

King Veruna is revealed in the updated Star Wars: Complete Locations DK reference book to have added a library to the Theed Royal Palace:

enter image description here

The previous ruler, King Veruna, established a vast royal library collection in this tower during his 13-year reign

This image also reveals (in the blue circle) that a previous King had a cousin who established a banquet hall in the city:

Banqueting rotunda built by the Earl of Vis, a cousin of the old king

It's possible this is also a reference to Veruna, although we can't be certain

Finally, in a flashback scene in the canon novel Tarkin, then-Senator Palpatine mentions a King of Naboo (emphasis mine):

In the Seswenna sector, several lommite mining concerns are vying for the attention of the Trade Federation, which is determined to forge a monopoly in the free trade zones. Even on my own Naboo, the king finds himself embroiled with the Trade Federation and off world bankers with regard to our plasma exports.

Tarkin Chapter 9: "As Above, So Below"

This scene takes place twenty years before the main events of the novel, which itself is set five years after the end of Revenge of the Sith, meaning this exchange occurs two years before the events of The Phantom Menace; the King Palpatine refers to is almost certainly Veruna, but we can't be totally certain of that.

Legends

There have been several Kings of Naboo, though far fewer of them than the Queens:

  1. Narmlé, who was mentioned in the now-defunct MMO game Star Wars: Galaxies
  2. Jafan, who gets mentioned in a few of the Star Wars background books
  3. Bon Tapalo, who appears in the novel Darth Plagueis
  4. Ars Veruna, Padmé's predecessor, who appears in a couple of books and comic books
Community
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Jason Baker
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    I was just adding Narmle and Jafan, but you beat me to it... +1 – Null Apr 01 '15 at 18:15
  • SW Galaxies was short-lived? O.O – MAF Apr 13 '15 at 20:03
  • @MatthewFrontino Apparently not; I never played it, but I remember everyone just sort of stopped talking about it pretty quick. On doing more research, apparently people actually did play it for a period of years. The more you know – Jason Baker Apr 13 '15 at 20:14
  • @JasonBaker Ha! I like the edit. Yes, Galaxies did not get much buzz after launch. It retained a cult following for the roughly 8 years it was around. I do recall talking to some former players during my 2 years of SWTOR and there was a lot of "I wish I could have galaxies back"... – MAF Apr 13 '15 at 20:39
  • Wookieepedia claims that Jafan is also referenced in canon materials, but I can't verify that myself so I'm not including it in my answer – Jason Baker Oct 26 '16 at 00:38
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I'm not aware of a canon example of a king of Naboo. In Legends, Ars Veruna appears as a king of Naboo.

Null
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