Worldwide Guide to Women in Leadership
Heads of State of the Maldive Islands/ Dhivehi Raajjeygen Jumhuriya (Female Suffrage 1932)A sultanate under protection of the British Crown achieved internal Self-government 1948, it became a republic in 1952 and was independent in 1965

Also see Maldives Ministers

1337 Sultan Khadija

1348/48-79 Sultan Malikat Rahandi Kambadi-Kilagi

1379-81 Sultan Fatima Raadafati Kambadi Kilege
She was deposed

1383-88 Sultan Malikat Dayin Kambadi-Kalagi
She was deposed by husband, Abdulla II, who reigned for one month and a half. 

1513-29 Joint Ruler Queen Burecca of The Maldive Islands
Also known as Buraki Rani those days young Princesses were educated in the martial arts as much as young princes, and she out-shone her younger brother and sister out on the field and in the schoolroom. She had expected to succeed her grandfather to the throne. However several years after Siri Bavana Sooja died, it was her brother who came to the throne as King Siri Ananda Sultan Ali V (1512 -13). There were several other reigns in between. Very soon Burecca quarreled with her brother, fled the Maldives, and traveled east to the Kingdom of Aceh (known to the Maldivians as Asey Cara) on the island of Sumatra. There she completed her education and perfected her martial arts before returning home to depose her brother. Her fleet entered Malé harbour in the dead of night. Burecca fought a duel with her brother on the square inside the royal palace complex, several hours before dawn that morning. She slew her brother King Siri Ananda and ascended the throne to rule jointly with her husband King Siri Dhammaru Bavana (Sultan Mohamed the Black). It was Siri Dhammaru Bavana's third accession to the throne. Burecca, in spite of her ambitions, unlike several other women who occupied the throne, did not take the title of Rehendi or Sultana. Instead she took the title of Ranin or Queen Consort.

1607-09 Sultan Kuda Kala Kamanafa’anu, Sultana of Land of Sea, Lady of the Thousand Islands and Sultans of the Maldive Islands. 

1687-91 Regent Princess Maryam 
She was regent for her son Kuda Mohammad after her husband, Iskander Ibrahim died. She was killed together with her son in an explosion at Sea. 

1704 Regent Princess Fatima
When the news of the possible drowning of Isdu King Siri Muthei Ranmani Loka/Sultan Ibrahim Mudhiruddine who after his abdication was known as Isdu Ibrahim Bodu Kilegefan, while returning from the Hajj pilgrimage reached Malé in 1704, his wife and regent Princess Fatima attempted to usurp the throne in her own right. Her rival and brother-in-law, Admiral-in-chief Hussain was banished to Naifaru. Fatima was however displaced from the Eterekoilu - the residence of the Sultans - by the Prime Minister Mohamed Faamuladeyri Thakurufan who was crowned as King Siri Kula Sundhura Siyaaka Sasthura -Sultan Mudzhaffar Mohamed Imaduddine II.

1753 Nominal Regent Princess Sanfa Rendi Kabafa'anu
She nominally reigned as Regent for her brother Hasan Manikufa'anu Sultan al-Ghazi al-Hasan 'Izz ud-din Baderi. Her father Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar II reigned (1721-50 )

1753-57 Nominal Regent Princess Amina Rani Kilegefa’anu
In 1752 her father, H.H. Sultan al-Mukarram Muhammad 'Imad ud-din III, was seized by the Ali Raja of Cannanore and transported to Kavaratti island in the Laccadives. Male was occupied. The occupation was ended by Muleegey Dom Hassan Maniku, a direct descendant of the penultimate Christian King Joao. The sultan died in captivity in 1757. The de facto regent was Muleegey Dom Hassam Maniku. Her sister Amina Kkanbafa’anu was regent in 1773.

1773-74 Joint Regent Princess Amina Kanbafa’anu
Her brother, Sultan Al-Haj Muhammed (1766-77), appointed her and her huband, Ali Shah Bandor Vela’ana’a Manikufa’anu, as joint regents, when he went on a pilgrimage to Mecca . He drowned on his return in 1774. Her sister, Princess Amina Rani Kilegefa’anu, had been regent 1753-57.