@SuperSnekFriend @kf01 Ackchyually, pawn promotion rules have varied over time. One common alternative historically was that pawns might only be promoted to pieces which had already been captured. Sometimes, this is described with language of "exchanging" the pawn.

This suggests that, to some degree, pawn promotion is/was viewed as the recapture of a prisoner from behind enemy lines, with the pawn himself either dying in action or being subsumed into the retinue of the more noble piece which he has rescued.

Under this interpretation, pawns promoted to queens are actually capturing maidens from enemy territory who are infatuated with the king, bestowing presumptive royal prerogatives on them before the ceremony because said king is understandably occupied in battle.