Travel — Spain— Culture

CARNIVAL QUEENS

In the Brazilian tradition of Carnival, a samba school’s drum queen is among the festival’s most coveted positions. André Aram looks at some of the groundbreaking trans women, past and present who have stepped into this prestigious role. Photograph courtesy of Camila Prins.

In 1976, the mononymous Eloína made history when she became the first trans woman to parade as drum queen in Brazil, leading the Beija-Flor samba school during their Carnival celebrations in Rio de Janeiro. In this coveted role, Eloína danced in front of the Carnival block in an elaborate costume, rallying the crowd and showcasing her own dance skills. She continued as queen of the drums in the following years, until she was replaced in the early 1980s.

Now aged 79, Eloína has not paraded in a samba school for quite some time, but she attends the famous Vogue ball held at the luxurious Copacabana Palace hotel every year as a special guest.

50 years after Eloína’s Carnival debut, history repeated itself when Brazilian model and businesswoman Thalita Zampirolli paraded as the drum section queen of the Unidos da Ponte samba school. The presence of a trans woman in one of the most prestigious positions in a school reveals that Carnival also means the inclusion of the LGBTQ+ community.

“This is the first time that Unidos da Ponte has chosen a trans drum queen, and that makes this moment even more special and historic for me and for the school,” she said.

This year, Rio Carnival at the famous Marquês de Sapucaí Sambadrome took place over five days in February. During the festivities, 12 prominent samba schools paraded, along with the 15 associations of the Gold Series division. The dates of Carnival may vary each year, but it is almost always in February, when locals and tourists from all around the world flock to Rio to soak up the spirit of the festival.

Being a Carnival queen goes far beyond beauty; crucially, it also requires the skill of knowing how to samba. After all, the queen parades in front of the drummers, acting as a link between the audience and the music. In other words, she is a representative of the school. Leading the drum section comes with the kind of publicity and visibility that can cross borders and land the performer on the front page of the world’s most important newspapers.

Since 2017, Thalita has been living in Boston in the United States, where she owns a beauty salon. For Carnival, she always arrives in Brazil months in advance to be close to all the preparations for the event, including the exhaustive rehearsals that take place at the samba school’s headquarters.

Each year, preparation to be queen of the Brazilian Carnival begins long before February. “As Carnival approaches, the training becomes even more extensive,” she says. “About four months before the parade, I increase my focus on weight training to keep up with the intense pace of the event.” For her, every effort is worth it to perform at her best on one of the world’s biggest stages with international exposure.

When asked how she deals with criticism, she exudes confidence.

“It will always exist, especially in such an important position, at the heart of the school, which is the drum section; but it requires dedication and responsibility, and I’m ready for that,” she said days before the parade at the Sambadrome, amid a busy schedule of samba rehearsals and costume fittings.

The performer has always been passionate about Carnival. “Since childhood, I watched it on television, dreaming of experiencing it all,” she said. At the age of 13, she was already a child muse for a street Carnival group in Espírito Santo, her home state, in southeastern Brazil. Then, at the age of 18, she underwent what she describes as one of the most important moments in her life – her gender-affirming surgery. During this period, she also enrolled at university to study industrial design.

Thalita is not a newcomer to Rio’s Carnival. She has been parading for 15 years, and three years ago she was queen of another samba school, albeit in a lower category. When asked if there is greater pressure on her as a trans woman taking on a prominent position in Carnival, she replied: “When a trans woman occupies any space of visibility, the demands are usually greater. We still need to constantly prove our ability and our worth.”

When it comes to inspiration, Thalita credits Eloína and her pioneering spirit. “She is a huge role model; she opened doors and helped pave the way so that today we can occupy such a representative position in Carnival,” she said.

In recent years, in particular, transgender women have played much more visible roles in samba school parades, but it is still uncommon to see them in one of the most sought-after positions. This year, another transgender woman, Camila Prins, was queen of the drum section of a different samba school, Unidos de Bangu.

Born in a small town in the state of São Paulo, in the southeast of the country, Camila has lived in Switzerland for 26 years, but like her fellow contestant, she always spends time in Brazil to follow the community closely. “I stay here for three months, dedicating myself to Carnival,” she said. Camila and Thalita’s stories are similar: their passion for this fun and libertine event began in childhood.

Married to a Swiss man for the past 24 years, Camila took the magic of Brazilian Carnival to Europe. “I am the godmother of a samba school there called Unidos de Lausanne,” she said. Like Eloína, whose profile put Carnival on the global stage, Camila was also a pioneer, becoming the first trans queen of the International Samba Festival in Coburg, Germany.

As you might expect, pressure comes with the territory of being a drum queen, but for Camila, this pressure is what drives her forward.

“I demand a lot from myself,” she says. “I occupy a position that is desired by the women who parade in the samba school, so I demand that I am impeccable in all rehearsals.”

Despite the support that the transgender community receives during Carnival, the atmosphere of freedom and acceptance seems to change when the festive event ends, as if an invisible wall is erected separating each universe in its space. Indeed, trans women, particularly trans women of colour, face an epidemic of violence and hostility in Brazil.

According to the Associação Nacional de Travestis e Transexuais – ANTRA, Brazil has been named, for the 18th consecutive year, as the nation with the highest number of trans people killed per year. In 2025, 80 trans people were murdered in Brazil, most of them Black sex workers, highlighting the intersection of misogyny, transphobia, racism and stigma.

Regarding the systemic lethal violence facing trans women in Brazil, Camila not only laments the situation but also admits to feeling fearful for her homeland. “I hear a lot about it, and I would be a little afraid if I lived in Brazil,” she said. “I’m used to my life in Switzerland.” Thalita, on the other hand, is hopeful for change. “We are slowly making progress. We need more respect, empathy, and effective public policies to ensure dignity and safety for the trans population.”

Next year, the two will land again on Brazilian soil during the city’s most festive period, celebrating joy, diversity and visibility.