What happens if a child inherits the throne

That, in not so many words, was the question my colleague Stephen asked the Mail on Sunday reporter and noted primogeniture nerd Ned Donovan on Twitter yesterday. My entirely unwanted response was predictably scathing. Firstly, a line about how succession works. Once upon a time there were all sorts of ways of getting hold of a crown: not just inheritance, but conquest, election by the powerful, nomination by the previous sovereign….

All of this made succession a tricky business — the moment when a kingdom was most at risk of internal conflict as rival parties pushed different candidates. We think of the Norman Conquest of as an invasion, which to be fair it was — but it was also a succession crisis that got really, really out of hand. Gradually over time the rules settled down a bit, to be based, largely, on male-preference primogeniture.

The rule was that only when you ran out of men in the direct line did you consider female candidates. If you run out of heirs altogether, you jump back a generation and start again with the oldest available bloke and his family. The state has fiddled with this a bit over the years. This not only cut out a whole bunch of plausible candidates with dodgy foreign connections: it also made clear that parliament could regulate that line of succession.

So it was that the Cameron government could rewrite the rules again in the Succession to the Crown Act, which stated that, among those born after 28 October , girls had the same inheritance rights as their brothers and being a Catholic was basically fine. Centuries of royal rules. Gillard praises succession change. Talks to change year royal laws. In pictures: Queen visits Australia.

Commonwealth 'backs royal reform'. If Prince William and Kate had a daughter first, she would take precedence over younger brothers. Queen's speech. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. David Cameron: ''The idea a younger son should become monarch instead of an elder daughter simply because he's a man Previous attempts.

Chogm summit. View comments. Published 28 October Published 29 October Published 21 October When the Duchess of Sussex, better known as Meghan Markle, gave birth to a baby boy on May 6, , royal baby watchers all over the world rejoiced.

This is definitely my first birth. It was amazing, absolutely incredible, and, as I said, I'm so incredibly proud of my wife," father Prince Harry said afterward. But the new baby, named Archie Mountbatten-Windsor, did not just bring joy to the besotted new parents; he joined the crowded field of royals who have a slim chance of one day succeeding to the British throne.

In the much-anticipated interview of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry by Oprah Winfrey on March 7, , the couple announced they are expecting a second child, a baby girl, "some time in the summer. In addition, Markle said that Archie had not benefited from the security detail ordinarily provided alongside the position of a prince. They read: "The eldest living son of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales shall have and at all times hold and enjoy the style title or attribute of Royal Highness with their titular dignity of Prince or Princess.

Despite this, Archie remains the first British-American royal in line for the crown. But just where does he fall in the line of succession? For centuries, the royal line of succession to the British throne was — like in most monarchies — based on primogeniture, which traditionally gives preference to the firstborn male heir of a king and queen, meaning he inherits the title, lands and all other property belonging to his family.