# List of female fellows of the Royal Society

Fellowship of the Royal Society is open to scientists, engineers and technologists from the United Kingdom and Commonwealth of Nations, on the basis of having made "a substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathematics, engineering science and medical science". Election to the Fellowship is highly regarded and sought after, bringing prestige to both the individual academically and the institution the Fellow is associated with. For scientists in the United Kingdom, the recognition is considered second only to being awarded the Nobel Prize.
While there was no explicit prohibition of women as Fellow of the Royal Society in its original charters and statutes, election to the fellowships was for much of the Society's history de facto closed to women. As a result of the dissolution of nunneries in connection with the Dissolution of the Monasteries by Henry VIII, and female exclusion from schools and universities, the formal education of British girls and women was effectively non-existent throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. Women slowly gained admittance to learned societies in the UK starting in the 19th century, with the founding of the Zoological Society of London in 1829 and the Royal Entomological Society in 1833, both of which admitted women fellows from their inception.
The first recorded question of women being admitted to the Royal Society occurred in 1900, when Marian Farquharson, the first female fellow of the Royal Microscopical Society, sent a letter to the Council of the Royal Society petitioning that "duly qualified women should have the advantage of full fellowship". In its reply, the Council stated that the question of women fellows "must depend on the interpretation to be placed upon the Royal Charters under which the Society has been governed for more than three hundred years". When Hertha Ayrton was nominated for fellowship in 1902, her candidature was turned down on the basis that as a married woman she had no standing in law. The Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919 made it illegal for an incorporated society to refuse admission on the grounds of an individual's sex or marital status. While the Society acknowledged the provision of section 1 of the Act in 1925, in reply to a question originally put to them by the Women's Engineering Society three years prior, it was not until 1943 that another woman was nominated for fellowship. Kathleen Lonsdale and Marjory Stephenson were duly elected in 1945, after a postal vote amending the Society's statutes to explicitly allow women fellows.
As of 2020, a total of 198 women have been elected fellows. Two women have been elected under the Society's former Statute 12 regulation and two Honorary Fellows for their service to the cause of science. Another four women, from the British Royal Family, have been either Royal Fellow or Patron of the Society. Thirty six more women have been elected as Foreign Members. Of the approximately 1,600 living fellows and foreign members in 2018, 8.5 per cent are women compared to 0.4% in 1945, according to a historical research project conducted by Aileen Fyfe and Camilla Mørk Røstvik.

## Fellows

List of female fellows :
| Year of election | Fellow | Field(s) | Notes |
| 1945 | Kathleen Lonsdale | Crystallography | Awarded the Davy Medal in 1957 |
| 1945 | Marjory Stephenson | Biochemistry, microbiology | |
| 1946 | Agnes Arber | Botany | |
| 1947 | Mary Cartwright | Mathematics | Awarded the Sylvester Medal in 1964 |
| 1947 | Dorothy Hodgkin | Biochemistry | Awarded the Royal Medal in 1956, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1964, and the Copley Medal in 1976; delivered the Tercentenary Lecture in 1960 and the Bakerian Lecture in 1972 |
| 1947 | Muriel Robertson | Protozoology, bacteriology | |
| 1948 | Sidnie Manton | Entomology | Her sister Irene Manton was elected FRS in 1961. |
| 1948 | Dorothy Needham | Biochemistry | |
| 1952 | Honor Fell | Zoology | |
| 1952 | Marthe Vogt | Neurology | Awarded the Royal Medal in 1981 |
| 1954 | Rosalind Pitt-Rivers | Biochemistry | |
| 1956 | Helen Porter | Plant physiology | |
| 1957 | Charlotte Auerbach | Zoology, genetics | Awarded the Darwin Medal in 1976 |
| 1958 | Edith Bülbring | Pharmacology | |
| 1959 | Ann Bishop | Protozoology, parasitology | |
| 1959 | Sylvia Tait | Endocrinology | |
| 1961 | Irene Manton | Botany | Sister of Sidnie Manton (elected FRS 1948) |
| 1963 | Sheina Marshall | Marine biology | |
| 1964 | Eleanor Margaret Burbidge | Astrophysics | |
| 1965 | Dorothy Hill | Geology | |
| 1966 | Lillian Mary Pickford | Endocrinology | |
| 1967 | Emmeline Jean Hanson | Biophysics | |
| 1969 | Winifred Watkins | Biochemistry | Awarded the Royal Medal in 1988 |
| 1971 | Florence Gwendolen Rees | Zoology, parasitology | |
| 1972 | Mary Parke | Phycology | |
| 1972 | Ruth Sanger | Hematology, serology | |
| 1973 | Brigitte Askonas | Immunology | |
| 1973 | Mary Lyon | Genetics | Awarded the Royal Medal in 1984 |
| 1975 | Anne McLaren | Developmental biology, genetics | Foreign Secretary and vice-president of the Royal Society 1991–96, and awarded the Royal Medal in 1990 |
| 1976 | Patricia Clarke | Biochemistry | Delivered the Leeuwenhoek Lecture in 1979 |
| 1976 | Elsie Widdowson | Nutrition | |
| 1977 | Helen Muir | Rheumatology | |
| 1979 | Brenda Milner | Neuropsychology | Delivered the Humphry Davy Lecture in 1989 |
| 1979 | Winifred Tutin | Botany | |
| 1979 | Janet Vaughan | Physiology | |
| 1979 | Janet Watson | Geology | |
| 1982 | Noreen Murray | Molecular genetics | Vice-president of the Royal Society 2002–04, and awarded the Gabor Medal in 1989 |
| 1985 | Naomi Datta | Genetics | |
| 1985 | Miriam Rothschild | Entomology, botany | |
| 1985 | Anne Warner | Developmental biology | |
| 1986 | Jean Thomas | Biochemistry | Biological Secretary and vice-president of the Royal Society 2008–present |
| 1986 | Elizabeth Warrington | Neuropsychology | |
| 1987 | Olga Kennard | Crystallography | |
| 1988 | Barbara Pearse | Molecular biology | |
| 1989 | Anne Treisman | Psychology | |
| 1990 | Louise Johnson | Biochemistry, crystallography | |
| 1990 | Carole Jordan | Astronomy | |
| 1991 | Enid MacRobbie | Biophysics | |
| 1992 | Elizabeth Blackburn | Molecular biology | Awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2009 |
| 1992 | Suzanne Cory | Genetics | Awarded the Royal Medal in 2002 |
| 1993 | Patricia Jacobs | Genetics | |
| 1994 | Dusa McDuff | Mathematics | |
| 1995 | Julia Higgins | Polymer science | Foreign Secretary and vice-president of the Royal Society 2001–06, delivered the Blackett and Jagdish Chandra Bose Memorial Lecture in 2005 and the Humphry Davy and Claude Bernard Lecture in 2007 |
| 1995 | Shirley Tilghman | Molecular biology | |
| 1996 | Jan Anderson | Biology | |
| 1996 | Dianne Edwards | Paleobotany | |
| 1996 | Linda Partridge | Genetics, biogerontology | Delivered the Croonian Lecture in 2009 |
| 1997 | Philippa Marrack | Immunology | Awarded the Wellcome Foundation Prize in 1990 |
| 1998 | Jean Beggs | Genetics | Awarded the Gabor Medal in 2003 |
| 1998 | Cheryll Tickle | Developmental biology | |
| 1999 | Frances Ashcroft | Physiology | |
| 1999 | Rosa Beddington | Developmental biology | |
| 1999 | Lorna Casselton | Genetics | Foreign Secretary and vice-president of the Royal Society 2006–11, delivered the Rutherford Memorial Lecture in 2008 and the Blackett and Jagdish Chandra Bose Memorial Lecture in 2009 |
| 1999 | Athene Donald | Physics | Delivered the Bakerian Lecture in 2006 |
| 1999 | Janet Thornton | Bioinformatics | |
| 2000 | Janet Rossant | Developmental biology | |
| 2000 | Patricia Simpson | Developmental biology | |
| 2001 | Brigid Hogan | Developmental biology | |
| 2001 | Frances Kirwan | Mathematics | |
| 2001 | Sheila Sherlock | Medicine | |
| 2002 | Anne Dell | Biochemistry | |
| 2002 | Judith Howard | Chemistry, crystallography | |
| 2002 | Georgina Mace | Conservation biology, ecology | |
| 2002 | Mary Rees | Mathematics | |
| 2003 | Jocelyn Bell Burnell | Astrophysics | Awarded the Michael Faraday Prize in 2010 |
| 2003 | Mariann Bienz | Molecular biology | |
| 2003 | Kay Davies | Genetics | |
| 2003 | Eleanor Dodson | Biochemistry | |
| 2003 | Ann Dowling | Mechanical engineering | |
| 2003 | Bridget Ogilvie | Parasitology | |
| 2003 | Elizabeth Robertson | Cell biology | |
| 2003 | Karen Vousden | Molecular biology | |
| 2003 | Fiona Watt | Molecular biology | |
| 2004 | Caroline Dean | Botany | |
| 2004 | Lynn Gladden | Chemical engineering | Awarded the Bakerian Lecture for 2014 |
| 2004 | Carol Robinson | Chemistry | Awarded the Rosalind Franklin Award in 2004, and the Davy Medal in 2010 |
| 2004 | Nancy Rothwell | Biology | |
| 2005 | Deborah Charlesworth | Evolutionary biology | |
| 2005 | Uta Frith | Developmental psychology | |
| 2006 | Valerie Beral | Epidemiology | |
| 2006 | Ruth Lynden-Bell | Computational chemistry | |
| 2006 | Trudy Mackay | Genetics | |
| 2006 | Helen Saibil | Molecular biology | |
| 2007 | Gillian Bates | Biology | Delivered the GlaxoSmithKline Prize and Lecture in 1998 |
| 2007 | Barbara Rosemary Grant | Evolutionary biology | Awarded the Darwin Medal in 2002 |
| 2007 | Ottoline Leyser | Botany | Awarded the Rosalind Franklin Award in 2007 |
| 2007 | Daniela Rhodes | Molecular biology | |
| 2007 | Veronica van Heyningen | Genetics | |
| 2008 | Anne O'Garra | Immunology | |
| 2008 | Ulrike Tillmann | Mathematics | |
| 2009 | Jennifer Clack | Palaeontology, evolutionary biology | |
| 2009 | Wendy Hall | Computer science | |
| 2009 | Christine Holt | Developmental neuroscience | |
| 2009 | Angela McLean | Mathematical biology | Awarded the Gabor Medal in 2011 |
| 2009 | Karen Steel | Biology | |
| 2010 | Andrea Brand | Molecular biology | Awarded the Rosalind Franklin Award in 2006 |
| 2010 | Eleanor Campbell | Physical chemistry | |
| 2010 | Nicola Clayton | Comparative cognition | |
| 2010 | Victoria Kaspi | Astrophysics | Delivered the UK-Canada Rutherford Lecture in 2010 |
| 2010 | Elizabeth Simpson | Biology | |
| 2011 | Doreen Cantrell | Immunology | |
| 2011 | Clare Grey | Chemistry | Kavli Medal and Lecture in 2011 |
| 2011 | Janet Hemingway | Tropical medicine | |
| 2011 | Fiona Powrie | Gastroenterology | |
| 2011 | Angela Vincent | Biology | |
| 2012 | Michele Dougherty | Astrophysics | |
| 2012 | Margaret Robinson | Molecular biology, cell biology | |
| 2013 | Judith Armitage | Biochemistry | |
| 2013 | Gillian Griffiths | Cell biology, immunology | |
| 2013 | Joanna Haigh | Atmospheric physics | |
| 2013 | Edith Heard | Epigenetics | |
| 2013 | Anne Mills | Health economics | |
| 2013 | Maria Grazia Spillantini | Neurology | |
| 2013 | Brigitta Stockinger | Immunology | |
| 2013 | Sophie Wilson | Computer architecture | |
| 2013 | Julia Yeomans | Physics | |
| 2014 | Dorothy Bishop | Psychology | |
| 2014 | Sally Davies | Medicine | |
| 2014 | Marian Dawkins | Zoology | |
| 2014 | Amanda Fisher | Biology | |
| 2014 | Jenny Nelson | Physics | |
| 2014 | Karalyn Patterson | Neuroscience | |
| 2014 | Sheena Radford | Biophysics | |
| 2015 | Jane Clarke | Biophysics | |
| 2015 | Anne Cutler | Psycholinguistics | |
| 2015 | Annette Dolphin | Pharmacology | |
| 2015 | Yvonne Elsworth | Helioseismology | |
| 2015 | Alison Etheridge | Probability | |
| 2015 | Jane A. Langdale | Plant development | |
| 2015 | Julia Slingo | Meteorology | |
| 2015 | Natalie Strynadka | Biochemistry | |
| 2016 | Polina Bayvel | Optical communication | |
| 2016 | Katharine Cashman | Volcanology | |
| 2016 | Sarah Cleaveland | Epidemiology | |
| 2016 | Christl Donnelly | Epidemiology | |
| 2016 | Maria Fitzgerald | Neuroscience | |
| 2016 | Pratibha Gai | Microscopy | |
| 2016 | Anne Glover | Biology | |
| 2016 | Sue Ion | Nuclear power | |
| 2016 | Eugenia Kumacheva | Chemistry | |
| 2016 | Corinne Le Quéré | Climate change | |
| 2016 | Eleanor Maguire | Neuroscience | |
| 2016 | Caroline Series | Mathematics | |
| 2016 | Alison Smith | Plant biochemistry | |
| 2017 | Wendy Bickmore | Genome biology | |
| 2017 | Anne Ferguson-Smith | Genetics | |
| 2017 | Gabriele C. Hegerl | Climate change | |
| 2017 | Yvonne Jones | Molecular biology | |
| 2017 | Julia King | Engineering | |
| 2017 | Anne Neville | Engineering | |
| 2017 | Alison Noble | Biomedical engineering | |
| 2017 | Josephine Pemberton | Evolutionary biology | |
| 2017 | Sarah (Sally) Price | Chemistry | |
| 2017 | Anne Ridley | Cell biology | |
| 2017 | Nicola Spaldin | Materials science | |
| 2017 | Jennifer Thomas | Physicist | |
| 2017 | Susanne von Caemmerer | Plant physiology | |
| 2018 | Polly Arnold | Chemistry | |
| 2018 | Jillian Banfield | Microbial ecology | |
| 2018 | Margaret Brimble | Chemistry | |
| 2018 | Judy Hirst | Mitochondrial biology | |
| 2018 | Cathie Martin | Plant biotechnology | |
| 2018 | Tracy Palmer | Microbiology | |
| 2018 | Lalita Ramakrishnan | Microbiology | |
| 2018 | Nancy Reid | Statistics | |
| 2018 | Sheila Rowan | Physics | |
| 2018 | Ingrid Scheffer | Neurology | |
| 2018 | Michele Simmons | Quantum physics | |
| 2018 | Angela Strank | Geology | |
| 2019 | Lucy Carpenter | Atmospheric chemistry | |
| 2019 | Sarah C. Darby | Epidemiology | |
| 2019 | Véronique Gouverneur | Chemistry | |
| 2019 | Gagandeep Kang | Microbiology | |
| 2019 | Marta Kwiatkowska | Artificial Intelligence | |
| 2019 | Christine Orengo | Computational biology | |
| 2019 | Anne Osbourn | Microbiology | |
| 2019 | Barbara Sherwood Lollar | Geology | |
| 2019 | Molly Shoichet | Biomedical engineering | Ontario's first chief scientist |
| 2019 | Liz Sockett | Bacteriology | |
| 2020 | Marian Holness | Geology | |
| 2020 | Xin Lu | Biology, Cancer research | |
| 2020 | Catherine Price | Cognitive neuroscience | |
| 2020 | Carol Prives | Biology, Cancer research | |
| 2020 | Linda Nazar | Chemistry | |
| 2020 | Molly Stevens | Biomedical engineering | |
| 2020 | Donna Strickland | Physics | Nobel Prize winner |
| 2020 | Sarah Teichmann | Bioinformatics, Biophysics, Genomics, Immunology | |
| 2020 | Jane Visvader | Cell and Molecular Biology | |
| 2021 | Julie Ahringer | Molecular genetics | |
| 2021 | Connie Eaves | Medical genetics | |
| 2021 | Sadaf Farooqi | Medicine, Genetics of obesity | |
| 2021 | Ten Feizi | Molecular biology | |
| 2021 | Julie Forman-Kay | Biochemistry, Cell and molecular biology, Molecular medicine | |
| 2021 | Jane Francis | Paleoclimatology | |
| 2021 | Vernonica Franklin-Tong | Cell biology (Plant) | |
| 2021 | Usha Goswami | Cognitive neuroscience | |
| 2021 | Karen Heywood | Oceanography | |
| 2021 | Rebecca Kilner | Evolutionary biology | |
| 2021 | Fiona Marshall | Pharmacology | |
| 2021 | Frances Platt | Biochemistry, Pharmacology | |
| 2021 | Marilyn Renfree | Zoology | |
| 2021 | Abigail Sellen | HCI | |
| 2021 | Karen Vogtmann | Mathematics | |
| 2021 | Charlotte Williams | Chemistry | |
| 2022 | Eileen Furlong | Molecular biology | |
| 2022 | Jane Hillston | Computer science | |
| 2022 | Sandra Knapp | Botany | |
| 2022 | Susan M. Lea | Structural biology | |
| 2022 | Irene Miguel-Aliaga | Physiology | |
| 2022 | Rachel O'Reilly | Chemistry | |
| 2022 | Rosalind Rickaby | Biogeochemistry (Marine) | |
| 2022 | Yvonne Rogers | Cognitive science, HCI, IxD | |
| 2022 | Kate Storey | Developmental biology | |
| 2022 | Carola Garcia de Vinuesa | Immunology | |
| 2022 | E. Sally Ward | Immunology | |
| 2022 | Rachel Wood | Geology, Paleobiology | |
| 2023 | Judith Allen | Immunology | |
| 2023 | Sue Black | Anatomy, Forensic anthropology, Forensic science | |
| 2023 | Cathie Clarke | Astrophysics | |
| 2023 | Wendy Freedman | Astronomy | |
| 2023 | Sarah Gilbert | Vaccinology | |
| 2023 | Louise Heathwaite | Environmental science | |
| 2023 | Laura Heyderman | Physics, Materials science | |
| 2023 | Loeske Kruuk | Evolutionary biology | |
| 2023 | Jane Memmott | Ecology, Entomology | |
| 2023 | Valerie Mizrahi | Molecular biology | |
| 2023 | Tebello Nyokong | Chemistry | |
| 2023 | Sarah O'Connor | Molecular biology | |
| 2023 | Jane Parker | Botany | |
| 2023 | Lori Passmore | Structural biology, CryoEM, RNA processing | |
| 2023 | Hanadi Sleiman | Chemistry | |
| 2023 | Elizabeth Thompson | Mathematical statistics, Population genetics | |
| 2023 | Irene Tracey | Neuroscience, Pain, Neuroimaging | |
| 2024 | Frances Balkwill | Cell Biology | |
| 2024 | Heidi Johansen-Berg | Cognitive Neuroscience | |
| 2024 | Donna Blackmond | Organic Chemistry | |
| 2024 | Sarah-Jayne Blakemore | Cognitive Neuroscience | |
| 2024 | Helen Blau | Cell Biology | |
| 2024 | Jo Dunkley | Cosmology | |
| 2024 | Rebecca Fitzgerald | Oncology | |
| 2024 | Anjali Goswami | Evolutionary Biology | |
| 2024 | Maria Harrison | Microbiology | |
| 2024 | Laura Herz | Physics | |
| 2024 | Saskia Hogenhout | Biochemistry | |
| 2024 | Daniela Kühn | Combinatorics | |
| 2024 | Barbara Maher | Environmental Science | |
| 2024 | Tamsin Mather | Volcanology | |
| 2024 | Patricia Monaghan | Ecology | |
| 2024 | Sarah Otto | Evolutionary Biology | |
| 2024 | Lorraine Symington | Genetics | |
| 2024 | Mihaela van der Schaar | Computer Science | |
| 2024 | Sarah Tabrizi | Neuroscience | |
| 2024 | Xiaodong Zhang | Biochemistry | |

## Foreign members

List of female Foreign Members :
| Year of election | Member | Field(s) | Notes |
| 1955 | Lise Meitner | Nuclear physics | |
| 1969 | Inge Lehmann | Seismology | |
| 1989 | Nicole Le Douarin | Developmental biology | Delivered the Claude Bernard Lecture in 1987 |
| 1989 | Barbara McClintock | Cytogenetics | Awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1983 |
| 1990 | Christiane Nusslein-Volhard | Genetics, embryology | Awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1995 |
| 1995 | Gertrude Elion | Biochemistry, pharmacology | Awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1988 |
| 1995 | Salome Gluecksohn-Waelsch | Genetics | |
| 1995 | Rita Levi-Montalcini | Neurology | Awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1986 |
| 2001 | Clara Franzini-Armstrong | Developmental biology | |
| 2004 | Jane Lubchenco | Marine biology | Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere of the United States 2010–present |
| 2005 | Catherine Cesarsky | Astronomy | |
| 2008 | Barbara Hohn | Molecular biology | |
| 2008 | Susan Solomon | Atmospheric chemistry | |
| 2010 | Pascale Cossart | Bacteriology | |
| 2011 | Joanne Chory | Molecular biology, Cell biology | |
| 2011 | Carla Shatz | Neuroscience | |
| 2012 | Bonnie Bassler | Molecular biology | |
| 2013 | Margaret Buckingham | Developmental biology | |
| 2014 | Joan Steitz | Molecular biology | |
| 2015 | Linda Buck | Olfactory system | |
| 2015 | Susan Lindquist | Molecular biology | |
| 2015 | Gail Martin | Developmental Biology | |
| 2016 | Jennifer Doudna | Biochemistry | |
| 2016 | Ellen Williams | Nanotechnology | |
| 2017 | Marcia McNutt | Geophysics | |
| 2017 | Susan R. Wessler | Plant molecular biology | |
| 2018 | Carolyn R. Bertozzi | Systems biology | |
| 2018 | Fabiola Gianotti | Particle physics | |
| 2019 | Sandra Diaz | Ecology | |
| 2019 | Elaine Fuchs | Cell biology | |
| 2019 | Inez Fung | Climatology | |
| 2020 | Frances Arnold | Bioengineering | |
| 2020 | Else Marie Friis | Palaeobiology | |
| 2020 | Regine Kahmann | Microbiology | |
| 2020 | Margaret Kivelson | Geophysics | |
| 2020 | Ada Yonath | Microbiology | |
| 2021 | Anny Cazenave | Earth sciences | |
| 2021 | Elena Conti | Biochemistry | |
| 2021 | Julie Forman-Kay | Biochemistry | |
| 2021 | V. Narry Kim | Biochemistry | |
| 2021 | Claire Voisin | Mathematics | |
| 2022 | Titia de Lange | Biochemistry | |
| 2022 | Maria Leptin | Immunology | |
| 2023 | Eva-Mari Aro | Biology | |
| 2023 | Odile Eisenstein | Chemistry | |
| 2023 | Shafi Goldwasser | Artificial intelligence | |
| 2023 | May-Britt Moser | Neuroscience | |
| 2023 | Karen Uhlenbeck | Mathematics | |
| 2024 | Emily Carter | Materials science | |
| 2024 | Emmanuelle Charpentier | Microbiology | |
| 2024 | Ingrid Daubechies | Mathematics | |
| 2024 | Ruth Lehmann | Reproductive biology | |
| 2024 | Susana Magallón | Evolutionary biology | |
| 2024 | Kyoko Nozaki | Chemistry | |
| 2024 | Aviv Regev | Computational biology | |
| 2024 | Erin Schuman | Neuroscience | |

## Honorary and Statute 12 fellows

Between 1903 and 1996, Statute 12 of the Society permitted the council to elect someone who would not otherwise qualify for election under the normal criteria for "conspicuous service to the cause of science, or are such that their election would be of signal benefit to the Society". Statute 12 Fellows were replaced by the introduction of Honorary Fellows in 1997.
List of female honorary and Statute 12 fellows :
| Year of election | Fellow | Field(s) | Notes |
| 1983 | Margaret Thatcher | Politics | Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1979–1990) |
| 1988 | Margaret Gowing | History of science | Delivered the Wilkins Lecture in 1976 |
| 2007 | Onora O'Neill | Philosophy, politics | |
| 2015 | Lisa Jardine | History | |
| 2023 | Kate Bingham | | |
| 2023 | Fiona Fox | | |

## Royal fellows and patrons

Throughout its history, the Royal Society has elected a number of individuals to its Fellowship by virtue of their being a member of the nobility. Such elections were restricted first in 1874 to princes and members of the Privy Council, and subsequently in 1903 to princes of the British Royal Family only. This has since been relaxed to allow the election of any member of the British Royal Family. Those elected by virtue of their royal blood or marriage are known as Royal Fellows. From the beginning of the practice of British royal patronage in the 18th century, the reigning monarch of Great Britain (and since 1801 that of the United Kingdom), starting with King George I, has always served as patron of the Society.
List of female Royal Fellows and Patrons :
| Year of election | Fellow / Patron | Notes |
| 1838 | Queen Victoria | Never elected as a Royal Fellow, instead served as Patron of the Society after her reign began as Queen of the United Kingdom and later Empress of India |
| 1947 | Queen Elizabeth II | Queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms, and patron from 1952 |
| 1956 | Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother | Queen consort of King George VI |
| 1987 | Princess Anne | Princess Royal |