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Succession to the British throne

July 18, 2023

Succession to the British throne is determined by descent, sex,[note 1] legitimacy, and religion. Under common law, the Crown is inherited by a sovereign's children or by a childless sovereign's nearest collateral line. The Bill of Rights 1689 and the Act of Settlement 1701 restrict succession to the throne to the legitimate Protestant descendants of Sophia of Hanover who are in "communion with the Church of England".[1] Spouses of Catholics were disqualified from 1689 until the law was amended in 2015. Protestant descendants of those excluded for being Roman Catholics are eligible.[2]

The Sovereign's Throne in the House of Lords, from which the speech is delivered at the State Opening of Parliament

King Charles III is the sovereign, and his heir apparent is his elder son, William, Prince of Wales. William's three children are next, in order of birth: Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis. Fifth in line is Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, the younger son of the King; sixth is Harry's elder child, Prince Archie. Under the Perth Agreement, which came into effect in 2015, only the first six in line of succession require the sovereign's consent before they marry; without such consent, they and their children would be disqualified from succession.

The United Kingdom is one of the Commonwealth realms, which are sovereign states that share the same person as monarch and the same order of succession. In 2011, the prime ministers of the then-16 realms agreed unanimously to amend the rules of succession. Male-preference primogeniture was abandoned, meaning that males born after 28 October 2011 no longer precede females in line, and the ban on marriages to Catholics was lifted. The monarch still needs to be in communion with the Church of England. After the necessary legislation had been enacted in accordance with each realm's constitution, the changes took effect on 26 March 2015.

Current line of succession

No official, complete version of the line of succession is maintained. The exact number, in more remote collateral lines, of the people who would be eligible is uncertain. In 2001, American genealogist William Addams Reitwiesner compiled a list of 4,973 living descendants of the Electress Sophia in order of succession without omitting Roman Catholics.[3] When updated in January 2011, the list included 5,753.[4]

The annotated list below covers the first part of this line of succession, being limited to descendants of the sons of King George V, King Charles III's great-grandfather. The order of the first twenty-four numbered in the list, all descendants of Queen Elizabeth II, is given on the official website of the British monarchy;[1] other list numbers and exclusions are explained by annotations and footnotes below. People named in italics are unnumbered either because they are deceased or because sources report them to be excluded from the succession.

Notes and sources
Mark Source for listing or note on exclusion from succession
1952 Succession published on the accession of Queen Elizabeth II in 1952[5]
B Listed by the official website of the British monarchy, "Succession", retrieved 9 June 2023.
D Debrett's website (as of 6 June 2023): "The Line of Succession"
W Whitaker's Almanack 2021, Oxford: Rebellion, ISBN 978-1-7810-8978-1, p. 26
M These people had been excluded through marriage to a Roman Catholic. This exclusion was repealed on 26 March 2015, restoring them to the line of succession, when the Perth Agreement came into effect.
X Excluded as Roman Catholics. This exclusion is not affected by changes subsequent to the Perth Agreement.

History

England

In 1485, Henry Tudor, a female-line descendant of a legitimated branch of the royal house of Lancaster, the House of Beaufort, assumed the English crown as Henry VII, after defeating Richard III, who was killed at the battle of Bosworth when leading a charge against Henry's standard. Richard was the last king of the House of York, and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty. Henry declared himself king retroactively from 21 August 1485, the day before his victory over Richard at Bosworth Field,[6] and caused Richard's Titulus Regius to be repealed and expunged from the Rolls of Parliament.[7] After Henry's coronation in London in October that year, his first parliament, summoned to meet at Westminster in November, enacted that "the inheritance of the crown should be, rest, remain and abide in the most royal person of the then sovereign lord, King Henry VII, and the heirs of his body lawfully coming."[8]

Henry VII was followed by his son, Henry VIII. Though his father descended from the Lancastrians, Henry VIII could also claim the throne through the Yorkist line, as his mother Elizabeth was the daughter of Edward IV. In 1542, Henry also assumed the title King of Ireland; this would pass down with the monarchs of England, and later Great Britain, until the Acts of Union 1800 merged the separate crowns into that of the United Kingdom.

Henry VIII's numerous marriages led to several complications over succession. Henry VIII was first married to Catherine of Aragon, by whom he had a daughter named Mary. His second marriage, to Anne Boleyn, resulted in a daughter named Elizabeth. Henry VIII had a son, Edward, by his third wife, Jane Seymour. An Act of Parliament passed in 1533 declared Mary illegitimate; another passed in 1536 did the same for Elizabeth. Though the two remained illegitimate, an Act of Parliament passed in 1544 allowed reinserting them, providing further "that the King should and might give, will, limit, assign, appoint or dispose the said imperial Crown and the other premises … by letters patent or last will in writing." Mary and Elizabeth, under Henry VIII's will, were to be followed by the granddaughters of the King's deceased sister Mary Tudor, Duchess of Suffolk (he, however, excluded Mary's still living daughters, Frances Grey, Duchess of Suffolk and Eleanor Clifford, Countess of Cumberland). This will also excluded from the succession the descendants of Henry's eldest sister Margaret Tudor, who were the rulers of Scotland.

 
Queen Elizabeth I enthroned in Parliament

When Henry VIII died in 1547, the young Edward succeeded him, becoming Edward VI. Edward VI was the first Protestant Sovereign to succeed to the throne of England. He attempted to divert the course of succession in his will to prevent his Catholic half-sister, Mary, from inheriting the throne. He excluded Mary and Elizabeth, settling on the Duchess of Suffolk's daughter, Lady Jane Grey. Jane was also originally excluded on the premise that no woman could reign over England. Nonetheless, the will, which originally referred to Jane's heirs-male, was amended to refer to Jane and her heirs-male. Upon Edward VI's death in 1553, Jane was proclaimed Queen of England and Ireland. She was not universally recognised and after nine days she was overthrown by the popular Mary. As Henry VIII's will had been approved by an act of Parliament in 1544, Edward's contravening will was unlawful and ignored.

Mary was succeeded by her half-sister, Elizabeth, who broke with the precedents of many of her predecessors, and refused to name an heir. Whilst previous monarchs (including Henry VIII) had specifically been granted authority to settle uncertain successions in their wills, the Treasons Act 1571 asserted that Parliament had the right to settle disputes, and made it treason to deny Parliamentary authority. Wary of threats from other possible heirs, Parliament further passed the Act of Association 1584, which provided that any individual involved in attempts to murder the Sovereign would be disqualified from succeeding. (The Act was repealed in 1863.)

Scotland

The House of Stewart (later Stuart) had ruled in Scotland since 1371. It followed strict rules of primogeniture.

After the union of the crowns

Stuarts

Elizabeth I of England and Ireland was succeeded by King James VI of Scotland, her first cousin twice removed, even though his succession violated Henry VIII's will, under which Lady Anne Stanley, heiress of Mary Tudor, Duchess of Suffolk, was supposed to succeed. James asserted that hereditary right was superior to statutory provision and, as King of Scotland, was powerful enough to deter any rival. He reigned as James I of England and Ireland, thus effecting the Union of the Crowns, although England and Scotland remained separate sovereign states until 1707. His succession was rapidly ratified by Parliament.[9]

 
Principal members of the house of Stuart following the 1603 Union of the Crowns.

James's eldest surviving son and successor, Charles I, was overthrown and beheaded in 1649 and the monarchy was abolished. A few years later, it was replaced by the Protectorate under Oliver Cromwell, a de facto monarch with the title of Lord Protector rather than King. Cromwell had the right to name his successor, which he exercised on his deathbed by choosing his son, Richard Cromwell. Richard was ineffective and was quickly forced from office. Shortly afterwards, the monarchy was restored, with Charles I's son Charles II as King.

 
After her last child died in 1700, only Princess Anne was left in the line of succession set by the Bill of Rights.

James II and VII, a Roman Catholic, followed his brother Charles II, despite efforts in the late 1670s to exclude him in favour of Charles's illegitimate Protestant son, the Duke of Monmouth. James was deposed when his Protestant opponents forced him to flee from England in 1688. Parliament then deemed that James had, by fleeing the realms, abdicated the thrones and offered the Crowns not to the King's infant son James but to his Protestant daughter Mary and to her husband William, who as James's nephew was the first person in the succession not descended from him. The two became joint Sovereigns (a unique circumstance in British history) as William III of England and Ireland (and II of Scotland) and Mary II of England, Scotland and Ireland. William had insisted on this unique provision as a condition of his military leadership against James.

The English Bill of Rights and the Scottish Claim of Right Act, both passed in 1689, determined succession to the English, Scottish and Irish Thrones. First in the line were the descendants of Mary II. Next came Mary's sister Princess Anne and her descendants. Finally, the descendants of William by any future marriage were added to the line of succession. Only Protestants were allowed to succeed; those who married Roman Catholics were excluded.

After Mary II died in 1694, her husband continued to reign alone until his own death in 1702. The line of succession provided for by the Bill of Rights was almost at an end; William and Mary had no children and Princess Anne's children had died. Parliament passed the Act of Settlement 1701. The Act maintained the provision of the Bill of Rights whereby William would be succeeded by Princess Anne and her descendants, and thereafter by his own descendants from future marriages. The Act declared that they would be followed by James I & VI's granddaughter Sophia, Electress Dowager of Hanover (the daughter of James's daughter Elizabeth Stuart), and her heirs. As under the Bill of Rights, non-Protestants and those who married Roman Catholics were excluded. Because Sophia was a foreign citizen, Parliament passed the Sophia Naturalization Act 1705 to make her and her descendants English and therefore eligible for the throne.[10]

 
Electress Sophia of Hanover (1630–1714)

Upon William's death, Anne became Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland. Because the Parliament of England settled on Sophia as Anne's heir-presumptive without consulting Scottish leaders, the Estates of Scotland retaliated by passing the Scottish Act of Security. The Act provided that, upon the death of Anne, the Estates would meet to select an heir to the throne of Scotland, who could not be the same person as the English Sovereign unless numerous political and economic conditions were met. Anne originally withheld the Royal Assent, but was forced to grant it when the estates refused to raise taxes and sought to withdraw troops from the queen's army. England's Parliament responded by passing the Alien Act 1705, which threatened to cripple Scotland's economy by cutting off trade with them. Thus, Scotland had little choice but to unite with England to form the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707; the crown of the new nation (along with the crown of Ireland) was subject to the rules laid down by the English Act of Settlement.

Hanoverians and Windsors

 
Benjamin Harris's Protestant Tutor, a primer popular for decades and the source for the New England Primer. Edition of 1713. Hanoverian propaganda extended to books for children's education.

Anne was predeceased by Sophia, Electress Dowager of Hanover, and was therefore succeeded by the latter's son, who became George I in 1714.

Attempts were made in the risings of 1715 and 1745 to restore Stuart claimants to the Throne, supported by those who recognised the Jacobite succession. The House of Hanover nonetheless remained undeposed, and the Crown descended in accordance with the appointed rules. In 1801, following the Acts of Union 1800, the separate crowns of Great Britain and Ireland were merged and became the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Between 1811 and 1820, when George III was deemed unfit to rule, the Prince of Wales (later George IV) acted as his regent. Some years later, the Regency Act 1830 made provision for a change in the line of succession had a child been born to William IV after his death, but this event did not come about.

 
George VI receiving homage at his coronation in 1937

On the death of William IV in 1837, his 18-year-old niece Victoria succeeded to the throne. After a 63-year reign, often known as the Victorian era, she was succeeded in 1901 by her eldest son Edward VII. On his death, his second son acceded to the throne as George V (Edward's first son Prince Albert Victor died during an influenza pandemic in 1892).

Edward VIII was proclaimed King on the death of his father, George V, in January 1936,[11] Edward opened Parliament in November, but abdicated in December 1936, and was never crowned. Edward had desired to marry Wallis Simpson, a divorcee, but the Church of England, of which the British Sovereign is Supreme Governor, would not authorise the marriage of divorcees. Consequently, Parliament passed His Majesty's Declaration of Abdication Act 1936, by which Edward VIII ceased to be Sovereign "immediately upon" his royal assent as King being signified in Parliament on 11 December. The Act provided that he and his descendants, if any, were not to have any "right, title or interest in or to the succession to the Throne". Edward died childless in 1972.

Edward's abdication was "a demise of the Crown" (in the words of the Act), and the Duke of York, his brother who was then next in the line, immediately succeeded to the throne and to its "rights, privileges, and dignities", taking the regnal name George VI. He in turn was succeeded in 1952 by his elder daughter, Elizabeth II. By that time, the monarch of the United Kingdom no longer reigned in the greater part of Ireland (which had become a republic in 1949), but was the monarch of a number of independent sovereign states (Commonwealth realms). She was then succeeded in 2022 by her eldest son, Charles III.

Commonwealth realms

Further information: Perth Agreement
 
Elizabeth II at her coronation in 1953, passing to the left of the Coronation Chair

By the terms of the Statute of Westminster 1931, each of the Commonwealth realms has the same person as monarch and, to maintain that arrangement, they have agreed to continue the same line of succession; some realms do so through domestic succession laws, while others stipulate whoever is monarch of the United Kingdom will also be monarch of that realm. In February 1952, on her accession, Elizabeth II was proclaimed as sovereign separately throughout her realms. In October 2011, the heads of government of all 16 realms agreed unanimously at a meeting held in Perth, Western Australia, to proposed changes to the royal succession laws that would see the order of succession for people born after 28 October 2011 governed by absolute primogeniture—wherein succession passes to an individual's children according to birth order, regardless of sex—instead of male-preference primogeniture. They also agreed to lift a ban on those who marry Roman Catholics. The ban on Catholics themselves was retained to ensure that the monarch would be in communion with the Church of England.[12] The changes came into effect across the Commonwealth realms on 26 March 2015, after legislation was made according to each realm's constitution.[13]

Following the changes coming into effect, the positions of the first 27 in line remained unchanged, including Princess Anne and her children and grandchildren, until the birth of Princess Charlotte of Cambridge on 2 May 2015. The first to be affected by the changes, on the day they came into effect on 26 March of that year, were the children of Lady Davina Windsor—her son Tāne Mahuta Lewis (born 2012) and her daughter Senna Kowhai Lewis (born 2010)—who were reversed in the order of succession, becoming 29th and 28th in line respectively (now 36th and 35th as of September 2022).[14]

Roles

The first four individuals in the line of succession who are over 21, and the sovereign's consort, may be appointed counsellors of state. Counsellors of state perform some of the sovereign's duties in the United Kingdom while the sovereign is out of the country or temporarily incapacitated.[15]

Current rules

The Bill of Rights and the Act of Settlement (restated by the Acts of Union) still govern succession to the throne. They were amended in the United Kingdom by the Succession to the Crown Act 2013, which was passed mainly "to make succession to the Crown not depend on gender" and "to make provision about Royal Marriages" (according to its long title), thereby implementing the Perth Agreement in the UK and in those realms that, by their laws, have as their monarch automatically whoever is monarch of the UK. Other realms passed their own legislation.

Anyone ineligible to succeed is treated as if they were dead. That person's descendants are not also disqualified, unless they are personally ineligible.

Marriages

The Act of Settlement 1701 provides that Protestant "heirs of the body" (that is, legitimate descendants) of Sophia, Electress of Hanover, are eligible to succeed to the throne, unless otherwise disqualified. The meaning of heir of the body is determined by the common law rules of male preference primogeniture (the "male-preference" criterion is no longer applicable, in respect of succession to the throne, to persons born after 28 October 2011), whereby older children and their descendants inherit before younger children, and a male child takes precedence over a female sibling.[16] Children born out of wedlock and adopted children are not eligible to succeed. Illegitimate children whose parents subsequently marry are legitimated, but remain ineligible to inherit.[note 3]

The Royal Marriages Act 1772 (repealed by the Succession to the Crown Act 2013) further required descendants of George II to obtain the consent of the reigning monarch to marry. (The requirement did not apply to descendants of princesses who married into foreign families, as well as, from 1936, any descendants of Edward VIII,[note 4] of whom there are none.) The Act provided, however, that if a dynast older than twenty-five years notified the Privy Council of his or her intention to marry without the consent of the Sovereign, then he or she may have lawfully done so after one year, unless both houses of Parliament expressly disapproved of the marriage. A marriage that contravened the Royal Marriages Act was void, and the resulting offspring illegitimate and thus ineligible to succeed, though the succession of the dynast who failed to obtain consent was not itself affected. This also had the consequence that marriage to a Roman Catholic without permission was void, so that the dynast was not disqualified from succeeding on account of being married to a Roman Catholic. Thus when the future George IV attempted to marry the Roman Catholic Maria Fitzherbert in 1785 without obtaining permission from George III he did not disqualify himself from inheriting the throne in due course.[2] A marriage voided by the 1772 act prior to its repeal remains void "for all purposes relating to the succession to the Crown" under the 2013 act.[17]

The constitutional crisis arising from Edward VIII's decision to marry a divorcee in 1936 led to His Majesty's Declaration of Abdication Act 1936, which provided that Edward VIII and his descendants would have no claim to the throne.[18] The Act is no longer applicable, because Edward died in 1972 without issue.

Under the Succession to the Crown Act 2013, the first six persons in line to the throne must obtain the sovereign's approval before marrying.[17] Marriage without the Sovereign's consent disqualifies the person and the person's descendants from the marriage from succeeding to the Crown,[17] but the marriage is still legally valid.

Religion

Rules relating to eligibility established by the Bill of Rights are retained under the Act of Settlement and the Acts of Union 1707. Under Article II of the Treaty of Union between England and Scotland (which was given legal force by the acts of the English and Scottish parliaments), the succession to the throne is limited to "the Heirs of [Electress Sophia's] body being Protestants."[19] The Act of Settlement also states that "whosoever shall hereafter come to the Possession of this Crown shall join in Communion with the Church of England".[20] The definition of being "in Communion with the Church of England" has been interpreted broadly; for instance, King George I was Lutheran.[21]

The Bill of Rights specifically excludes Roman Catholics from being sovereign, to the extent that they "shall be excluded and be for ever uncapeable to inherit possesse or enjoy the Crowne", thus ignoring any potential conversion from Roman Catholicism to Protestantism.[22] As such, a Roman Catholic is viewed as "naturally dead" for the purposes of succession.[23] The Act of Settlement further provided that anyone who married a Roman Catholic was ineligible to succeed. The Act did not require that the spouse be Anglican; it only barred those who married Roman Catholics. The Succession to the Crown Act 2013 removed the ban on individuals who marry Roman Catholics, though not on Roman Catholics themselves, because the monarch is Supreme Governor of the Church of England.

Treason

Under the Treason Act 1702 and the Treason (Ireland) Act 1703, it is treason to "endeavour to deprive or hinder any person who shall be the next in succession to the crown ... from succeeding ... to the imperial crown of this realm". Since the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, the maximum penalty has been life imprisonment.

Accession

 
The Accession Council normally meets in St James's Palace to proclaim the new sovereign.

In the Commonwealth realms, upon the death of a sovereign, the heir apparent or heir presumptive succeeds to the throne immediately, with no need for confirmation or further ceremony.[24][note 5] Nevertheless, the Accession Council meets and decides upon the making of the accession proclamation, which by custom has for centuries been ceremonially proclaimed in public places, in London, York, Edinburgh and other cities. The anniversary is observed throughout the sovereign's reign as Accession Day, including royal gun salutes in the United Kingdom.[26]

Formerly, a new sovereign proclaimed his or her own accession. But on the death of Elizabeth I an Accession Council met to proclaim the accession of James I to the throne of England. James was then in Scotland and reigning as King James VI of Scotland. This precedent has been followed since. Now, the Accession Council normally meets in St James's Palace. Proclamations since James I's have usually been made in the name of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, the Privy Council, the Lord Mayor, Aldermen and citizens of the City of London and "other principal Gentlemen of quality", though there have been variations in some proclamations. The proclamation of accession of Elizabeth II was the first to make mention of representatives of members of the Commonwealth.

Upon his or her accession, a new sovereign is required by law to make and subscribe several oaths. The Bill of Rights of 1689 first required the sovereign to make a public declaration of non-belief in Roman Catholicism.[note 6] This declaration, known as the Accession Declaration, is required to be taken either at the first meeting of parliament of his or her reign (i.e. during the State Opening of Parliament) or at his or her coronation, whichever occurs first. The wording of the declaration was changed in 1910 as the previous wording was deemed to be overly anti-Catholic. Rather than denouncing Roman Catholicism, the sovereign now declares him or herself to be a Protestant and that he or she will "uphold and maintain" the Protestant succession.[27] In addition to the Accession Declaration, the new sovereign is required by the Acts of Union 1707 to make an oath to "maintain and preserve" the Church of Scotland.[28] This oath is normally made at the sovereign's first meeting of the Privy Council following his or her accession. According to the Regency Act 1937, should the sovereign be under the age of 18, such oaths and declarations required to be taken by the sovereign shall be made upon attainment of that age.[29]

After a period of mourning,[30] the new sovereign is usually consecrated and crowned in Westminster Abbey. Normally, the Archbishop of Canterbury officiates, though the sovereign may designate any other bishop of the Church of England. A coronation is not necessary for a sovereign to reign; for example, Edward VIII was never crowned, yet during his short reign was the undoubted king.

Regency Act 1937

Main article: Regency Act 1937

In the event that the sovereign is under 18, or is incapacitated, the first person in the line of succession who is over the age of 21 (or 18 in the case of the heir apparent) and is domiciled in the United Kingdom becomes regent, and exercises the powers of the sovereign.

The first four individuals in the line of succession who are over 21 (or 18 in the case of the heir), and the sovereign's consort, may be appointed counsellors of state. Counsellors of state perform some of the sovereign's duties in the United Kingdom while the sovereign is out of the country or temporarily incapacitated.

Otherwise, individuals in the line of succession need not have specific legal or official roles.

See also

Explanatory notes

  1. ^ Males born on or before 28 October 2011 precede their elder sisters in the line of succession.[1]
  2. ^ a b Albert and Leopold Windsor were listed on the official website of the British monarchy until 2015 and in the 2013 edition of Whitaker's Almanack as following Estella Taylor (b 2004) and eligible to succeed; MSN News, Debrett's and Whitaker's Almanack 2015 and 2021 list them after Lady Amelia Windsor and before Lady Helen Taylor. They were baptised as Catholics, and are not listed in line in editions of Whitaker's earlier than 2012.
  3. ^ Neither the Legitimacy Act 1926 nor the Legitimacy Act 1959 changed the Law of Succession.
  4. ^ Per the His Majesty's Declaration of Abdication Act 1936.
  5. ^ A letter from Tony Newton as Lord President of the Council to Tony Benn indicated this was the effect of the Act of Settlement after Benn had indicated he intended to block the next accession at the Privy Council.[25]
  6. ^ This declaration was similar to what members of both Houses of Parliament were originally required to take by the Test Acts. Eventually, by the time it was changed in 1910, the monarch was the only one left required to make the declaration.

References

Citations

  1. ^ a b c "Succession". Official website of the British monarchy. from the original on 13 May 2016. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  2. ^ a b Bogdanor (1995), p. 55.
  3. ^ Reitwiesner, W. A. "Persons eligible to succeed to the British Throne as of 1 Jan 2001". wargs.com. from the original on 9 June 2005.
  4. ^ Lewis, David. . wargs.com. Archived from the original on 17 May 2011.
  5. ^ "Line of succession to the throne". The Sydney Morning Herald. 7 February 1952. p. 6. from the original on 12 March 2016.
  6. ^ Chrimes, S. B. (1999). Henry VII. Yale University Press. p. 50. ISBN 9780300078831.
  7. ^ . Archived from the original on 6 March 2016.
  8. ^ Smith, G. Barnett (1892). History of the English Parliament 19 March 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Ward, Lock, Bowden & Co. p. 298.
  9. ^ "Succession to the Crown Act 1603" Archived 5 June 2016 at the Wayback Machine.
  10. ^ "Princess Sophia". www.parliament.uk. from the original on 3 June 2020. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  11. ^ "Prince of Wales proclaimed King Edward VIII". London: UPI. 21 January 1936. from the original on 20 August 2017. Retrieved 20 August 2017.
  12. ^ "Girls equal in British throne succession". BBC News. 28 October 2011. from the original on 16 January 2021. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
  13. ^ The Succession to the Crown Act 2013 (Commencement) Order 2015 29 May 2021 at the Wayback Machine legislation.gov.uk; Clegg, Nick (26 March 2015). "Commencement of Succession to the Crown Act 2013: Written statement" 5 July 2016 at the Wayback Machine. UK Parliament.
  14. ^ "What do the new royal succession changes mean?" 28 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Royal Central. 26 March 2015.[unreliable source?]; "Line of Succession". Debrett's. from the original on 8 March 2023. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
  15. ^ "Counsellors of State". The Royal Family. Retrieved 13 June 2023.
  16. ^ Blackstone (1765).
  17. ^ a b c "Succession to the Crown Act 2013" 9 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine. UK Parliament. Section 3.
  18. ^ His Majesty's Declaration of Abdication Act 1936, section 2
  19. ^ "Article II of the Treaty of Union in the Union With Scotland Act 1706". from the original on 16 October 2021. Retrieved 16 October 2021.
  20. ^ Act of Settlement, section 3
  21. ^ Lathbury, Thomas (1858). A History of the Book of Common Prayer and Other Books of Authority. Oxford: John Henry and James Parker. p. 430. George I. remained a Lutheran as long as he lived, and had his German chaplain; but he conformed on some occasions with the Church of England. George II. was in the same position. Though Lutherans, they exercised acts of supremacy in the Church of England; and the common opinion was, that there was no opposition between the views of the two Churches
  22. ^ Bill of Rights 26 August 2021 at the Wayback Machine section I
  23. ^ Bill of Rights, section I; Act of Settlement, preamble
  24. ^ "Accession" 5 June 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Official website of the British monarchy. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
  25. ^ Bogdanor (1995), p. 45.
  26. ^ "Gun Salutes" 1 April 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Official website of the British monarchy. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
  27. ^ Accession Declaration Act 1910, schedule
  28. ^ Union with Scotland Act 1706, article XXV. "...And Lastly that after the Decease of Her Present Majesty (whom God long preserve) the Soveraign succeeding to her in the Royal Government of the Kingdom of Great Britain shall in all time comeing at his or her accession to the Crown Swear and Subscribe That they shall inviolably maintain and preserve the foresaid settlement of the True Protestant Religion with the Government Worship Discipline Right and Priviledges of this Church as above established by the Laws of this Kingdom in prosecution of the Claim of Right..."
  29. ^ Regency Act 1937, section 1(2)
  30. ^ "Coronation". Official website of the British monarchy. from the original on 5 February 2019. Retrieved 7 May 2016.

General and cited sources

  • Blackstone, William (1765). "Chapter 3: Of The King, and His Title" 3 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine. Commentaries on the Laws of England, Vol. 1. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
  • Bogdanor, Vernon (1995). The Monarchy and the Constitution. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN 978-0-19-829334-7.
  • Bryant, A. (1975). A Thousand Years of British Monarchy. London: Collins.
  • Cox, Noel (1999). "The Law of Succession to the Crown in New Zealand". Waikato Law Review. 7: 49–72. from the original on 14 September 2015. Retrieved 7 February 2012.

External links

July 18, 2023
succession, british, throne, determined, descent, note, legitimacy, religion, under, common, crown, inherited, sovereign, children, childless, sovereign, nearest, collateral, line, bill, rights, 1689, settlement, 1701, restrict, succession, throne, legitimate,. Succession to the British throne is determined by descent sex note 1 legitimacy and religion Under common law the Crown is inherited by a sovereign s children or by a childless sovereign s nearest collateral line The Bill of Rights 1689 and the Act of Settlement 1701 restrict succession to the throne to the legitimate Protestant descendants of Sophia of Hanover who are in communion with the Church of England 1 Spouses of Catholics were disqualified from 1689 until the law was amended in 2015 Protestant descendants of those excluded for being Roman Catholics are eligible 2 The Sovereign s Throne in the House of Lords from which the speech is delivered at the State Opening of ParliamentKing Charles III is the sovereign and his heir apparent is his elder son William Prince of Wales William s three children are next in order of birth Prince George Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis Fifth in line is Prince Harry Duke of Sussex the younger son of the King sixth is Harry s elder child Prince Archie Under the Perth Agreement which came into effect in 2015 only the first six in line of succession require the sovereign s consent before they marry without such consent they and their children would be disqualified from succession The United Kingdom is one of the Commonwealth realms which are sovereign states that share the same person as monarch and the same order of succession In 2011 the prime ministers of the then 16 realms agreed unanimously to amend the rules of succession Male preference primogeniture was abandoned meaning that males born after 28 October 2011 no longer precede females in line and the ban on marriages to Catholics was lifted The monarch still needs to be in communion with the Church of England After the necessary legislation had been enacted in accordance with each realm s constitution the changes took effect on 26 March 2015 Contents 1 Current line of succession 2 History 2 1 England 2 2 Scotland 2 3 After the union of the crowns 2 3 1 Stuarts 2 3 2 Hanoverians and Windsors 2 4 Commonwealth realms 2 5 Roles 3 Current rules 3 1 Marriages 3 2 Religion 3 3 Treason 4 Accession 5 Regency Act 1937 6 See also 7 Explanatory notes 8 References 8 1 Citations 8 2 General and cited sources 9 External linksCurrent line of successionNo official complete version of the line of succession is maintained The exact number in more remote collateral lines of the people who would be eligible is uncertain In 2001 American genealogist William Addams Reitwiesner compiled a list of 4 973 living descendants of the Electress Sophia in order of succession without omitting Roman Catholics 3 When updated in January 2011 the list included 5 753 4 The annotated list below covers the first part of this line of succession being limited to descendants of the sons of King George V King Charles III s great grandfather The order of the first twenty four numbered in the list all descendants of Queen Elizabeth II is given on the official website of the British monarchy 1 other list numbers and exclusions are explained by annotations and footnotes below People named in italics are unnumbered either because they are deceased or because sources report them to be excluded from the succession King George V 1865 1936 King Edward VIII 1894 1972 King George VI 1895 1952 Queen Elizabeth II 1926 2022 King Charles III b 1948 1 William Prince of Wales b 1982 B D W 2 Prince George of Wales b 2013 B D W 3 Princess Charlotte of Wales b 2015 B D W 4 Prince Louis of Wales b 2018 B D W 5 Prince Harry Duke of Sussex b 1984 B D W 6 Prince Archie of Sussex b 2019 B D W 7 Princess Lilibet of Sussex b 2021 B D 8 Prince Andrew Duke of York b 1960 B D W 9 Princess Beatrice b 1988 B D W 10 Sienna Mapelli Mozzi b 2021 B D 11 Princess Eugenie b 1990 B D W 12 August Brooksbank b 2021 B D 13 Ernest Brooksbank b 2023 B D 14 Prince Edward Duke of Edinburgh b 1964 B D W 15 James Mountbatten Windsor Earl of Wessex b 2007 B D W 16 Lady Louise Mountbatten Windsor b 2003 B D W 17 Anne Princess Royal b 1950 1952 B D W 18 Peter Phillips b 1977 B D W 19 Savannah Phillips b 2010 B D W 20 Isla Phillips b 2012 B D W 21 Zara Tindall nee Phillips b 1981 B D W 22 Mia Tindall b 2014 B D W 23 Lena Tindall b 2018 B D W 24 Lucas Tindall b 2021 B D Princess Margaret Countess of Snowdon 1930 2002 1952 25 David Armstrong Jones 2nd Earl of Snowdon b 1961 D W 26 Charles Armstrong Jones Viscount Linley b 1999 D W 27 Lady Margarita Armstrong Jones b 2002 D W 28 Lady Sarah Chatto nee Armstrong Jones b 1964 D W 29 Samuel Chatto b 1996 D W 30 Arthur Chatto b 1999 D W Prince Henry Duke of Gloucester 1900 1974 1952Prince William of Gloucester 1941 1972 1952 31 Prince Richard Duke of Gloucester b 1944 1952 D W 32 Alexander Windsor Earl of Ulster b 1974 D W 33 Xan Windsor Lord Culloden b 2007 D W 34 Lady Cosima Windsor b 2010 D W 35 Lady Davina Windsor b 1977 D W 36 Senna Lewis b 2010 D W 37 Tane Lewis b 2012 D W 38 Lady Rose Gilman nee Windsor b 1980 D W 39 Lyla Gilman b 2010 D W 40 Rufus Gilman b 2012 D W Prince George Duke of Kent 1902 1942 41 Prince Edward Duke of Kent b 1935 1952 D W 42 George Windsor Earl of St Andrews b 1962 M D WEdward Windsor Lord Downpatrick b 1988 X D W Lady Marina Windsor b 1992 X D W 43 Lady Amelia Windsor b 1995 D W Lord Nicholas Windsor b 1970 X D W 44 Albert Windsor b 2007 X D W note 2 45 Leopold Windsor b 2009 X D W note 2 46 Louis Windsor b 2014 X D W 47 Lady Helen Taylor nee Windsor b 1964 D W 48 Columbus Taylor b 1994 D W 49 Cassius Taylor b 1996 D W 50 Eloise Taylor b 2003 D W 51 Estella Taylor b 2004 D W 52 Prince Michael of Kent b 1942 1952 M W 53 Lord Frederick Windsor b 1979 W 54 Maud Windsor b 2013 W 55 Isabella Windsor b 2016 W 56 Lady Gabriella Kingston nee Windsor b 1981 W 57 Princess Alexandra The Honourable Lady Ogilvy b 1936 1952 W 58 James Ogilvy b 1964 W 59 Alexander Ogilvy b 1996 W 60 Flora Vesterberg nee Ogilvy b 1994 W 61 Marina Ogilvy b 1966 W 62 Christian Mowatt b 1993 W 63 Zenouska Mowatt b 1990 W Notes and sources Mark Source for listing or note on exclusion from succession1952 Succession published on the accession of Queen Elizabeth II in 1952 5 B Listed by the official website of the British monarchy Succession retrieved 9 June 2023 D Debrett s website as of 6 June 2023 update The Line of Succession W Whitaker s Almanack 2021 Oxford Rebellion ISBN 978 1 7810 8978 1 p 26M These people had been excluded through marriage to a Roman Catholic This exclusion was repealed on 26 March 2015 restoring them to the line of succession when the Perth Agreement came into effect X Excluded as Roman Catholics This exclusion is not affected by changes subsequent to the Perth Agreement HistoryThis section needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section Unsourced material may be challenged and removed May 2015 Learn how and when to remove this template message England In 1485 Henry Tudor a female line descendant of a legitimated branch of the royal house of Lancaster the House of Beaufort assumed the English crown as Henry VII after defeating Richard III who was killed at the battle of Bosworth when leading a charge against Henry s standard Richard was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty Henry declared himself king retroactively from 21 August 1485 the day before his victory over Richard at Bosworth Field 6 and caused Richard s Titulus Regius to be repealed and expunged from the Rolls of Parliament 7 After Henry s coronation in London in October that year his first parliament summoned to meet at Westminster in November enacted that the inheritance of the crown should be rest remain and abide in the most royal person of the then sovereign lord King Henry VII and the heirs of his body lawfully coming 8 Henry VII was followed by his son Henry VIII Though his father descended from the Lancastrians Henry VIII could also claim the throne through the Yorkist line as his mother Elizabeth was the daughter of Edward IV In 1542 Henry also assumed the title King of Ireland this would pass down with the monarchs of England and later Great Britain until the Acts of Union 1800 merged the separate crowns into that of the United Kingdom Henry VIII s numerous marriages led to several complications over succession Henry VIII was first married to Catherine of Aragon by whom he had a daughter named Mary His second marriage to Anne Boleyn resulted in a daughter named Elizabeth Henry VIII had a son Edward by his third wife Jane Seymour An Act of Parliament passed in 1533 declared Mary illegitimate another passed in 1536 did the same for Elizabeth Though the two remained illegitimate an Act of Parliament passed in 1544 allowed reinserting them providing further that the King should and might give will limit assign appoint or dispose the said imperial Crown and the other premises by letters patent or last will in writing Mary and Elizabeth under Henry VIII s will were to be followed by the granddaughters of the King s deceased sister Mary Tudor Duchess of Suffolk he however excluded Mary s still living daughters Frances Grey Duchess of Suffolk and Eleanor Clifford Countess of Cumberland This will also excluded from the succession the descendants of Henry s eldest sister Margaret Tudor who were the rulers of Scotland Queen Elizabeth I enthroned in ParliamentWhen Henry VIII died in 1547 the young Edward succeeded him becoming Edward VI Edward VI was the first Protestant Sovereign to succeed to the throne of England He attempted to divert the course of succession in his will to prevent his Catholic half sister Mary from inheriting the throne He excluded Mary and Elizabeth settling on the Duchess of Suffolk s daughter Lady Jane Grey Jane was also originally excluded on the premise that no woman could reign over England Nonetheless the will which originally referred to Jane s heirs male was amended to refer to Jane and her heirs male Upon Edward VI s death in 1553 Jane was proclaimed Queen of England and Ireland She was not universally recognised and after nine days she was overthrown by the popular Mary As Henry VIII s will had been approved by an act of Parliament in 1544 Edward s contravening will was unlawful and ignored Mary was succeeded by her half sister Elizabeth who broke with the precedents of many of her predecessors and refused to name an heir Whilst previous monarchs including Henry VIII had specifically been granted authority to settle uncertain successions in their wills the Treasons Act 1571 asserted that Parliament had the right to settle disputes and made it treason to deny Parliamentary authority Wary of threats from other possible heirs Parliament further passed the Act of Association 1584 which provided that any individual involved in attempts to murder the Sovereign would be disqualified from succeeding The Act was repealed in 1863 Scotland The House of Stewart later Stuart had ruled in Scotland since 1371 It followed strict rules of primogeniture After the union of the crowns Stuarts Elizabeth I of England and Ireland was succeeded by King James VI of Scotland her first cousin twice removed even though his succession violated Henry VIII s will under which Lady Anne Stanley heiress of Mary Tudor Duchess of Suffolk was supposed to succeed James asserted that hereditary right was superior to statutory provision and as King of Scotland was powerful enough to deter any rival He reigned as James I of England and Ireland thus effecting the Union of the Crowns although England and Scotland remained separate sovereign states until 1707 His succession was rapidly ratified by Parliament 9 Principal members of the house of Stuart following the 1603 Union of the Crowns James s eldest surviving son and successor Charles I was overthrown and beheaded in 1649 and the monarchy was abolished A few years later it was replaced by the Protectorate under Oliver Cromwell a de facto monarch with the title of Lord Protector rather than King Cromwell had the right to name his successor which he exercised on his deathbed by choosing his son Richard Cromwell Richard was ineffective and was quickly forced from office Shortly afterwards the monarchy was restored with Charles I s son Charles II as King After her last child died in 1700 only Princess Anne was left in the line of succession set by the Bill of Rights James II and VII a Roman Catholic followed his brother Charles II despite efforts in the late 1670s to exclude him in favour of Charles s illegitimate Protestant son the Duke of Monmouth James was deposed when his Protestant opponents forced him to flee from England in 1688 Parliament then deemed that James had by fleeing the realms abdicated the thrones and offered the Crowns not to the King s infant son James but to his Protestant daughter Mary and to her husband William who as James s nephew was the first person in the succession not descended from him The two became joint Sovereigns a unique circumstance in British history as William III of England and Ireland and II of Scotland and Mary II of England Scotland and Ireland William had insisted on this unique provision as a condition of his military leadership against James The English Bill of Rights and the Scottish Claim of Right Act both passed in 1689 determined succession to the English Scottish and Irish Thrones First in the line were the descendants of Mary II Next came Mary s sister Princess Anne and her descendants Finally the descendants of William by any future marriage were added to the line of succession Only Protestants were allowed to succeed those who married Roman Catholics were excluded After Mary II died in 1694 her husband continued to reign alone until his own death in 1702 The line of succession provided for by the Bill of Rights was almost at an end William and Mary had no children and Princess Anne s children had died Parliament passed the Act of Settlement 1701 The Act maintained the provision of the Bill of Rights whereby William would be succeeded by Princess Anne and her descendants and thereafter by his own descendants from future marriages The Act declared that they would be followed by James I amp VI s granddaughter Sophia Electress Dowager of Hanover the daughter of James s daughter Elizabeth Stuart and her heirs As under the Bill of Rights non Protestants and those who married Roman Catholics were excluded Because Sophia was a foreign citizen Parliament passed the Sophia Naturalization Act 1705 to make her and her descendants English and therefore eligible for the throne 10 Electress Sophia of Hanover 1630 1714 Upon William s death Anne became Queen of England Scotland and Ireland Because the Parliament of England settled on Sophia as Anne s heir presumptive without consulting Scottish leaders the Estates of Scotland retaliated by passing the Scottish Act of Security The Act provided that upon the death of Anne the Estates would meet to select an heir to the throne of Scotland who could not be the same person as the English Sovereign unless numerous political and economic conditions were met Anne originally withheld the Royal Assent but was forced to grant it when the estates refused to raise taxes and sought to withdraw troops from the queen s army England s Parliament responded by passing the Alien Act 1705 which threatened to cripple Scotland s economy by cutting off trade with them Thus Scotland had little choice but to unite with England to form the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707 the crown of the new nation along with the crown of Ireland was subject to the rules laid down by the English Act of Settlement Hanoverians and Windsors Benjamin Harris s Protestant Tutor a primer popular for decades and the source for the New England Primer Edition of 1713 Hanoverian propaganda extended to books for children s education Anne was predeceased by Sophia Electress Dowager of Hanover and was therefore succeeded by the latter s son who became George I in 1714 Attempts were made in the risings of 1715 and 1745 to restore Stuart claimants to the Throne supported by those who recognised the Jacobite succession The House of Hanover nonetheless remained undeposed and the Crown descended in accordance with the appointed rules In 1801 following the Acts of Union 1800 the separate crowns of Great Britain and Ireland were merged and became the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Between 1811 and 1820 when George III was deemed unfit to rule the Prince of Wales later George IV acted as his regent Some years later the Regency Act 1830 made provision for a change in the line of succession had a child been born to William IV after his death but this event did not come about George VI receiving homage at his coronation in 1937On the death of William IV in 1837 his 18 year old niece Victoria succeeded to the throne After a 63 year reign often known as the Victorian era she was succeeded in 1901 by her eldest son Edward VII On his death his second son acceded to the throne as George V Edward s first son Prince Albert Victor died during an influenza pandemic in 1892 Edward VIII was proclaimed King on the death of his father George V in January 1936 11 Edward opened Parliament in November but abdicated in December 1936 and was never crowned Edward had desired to marry Wallis Simpson a divorcee but the Church of England of which the British Sovereign is Supreme Governor would not authorise the marriage of divorcees Consequently Parliament passed His Majesty s Declaration of Abdication Act 1936 by which Edward VIII ceased to be Sovereign immediately upon his royal assent as King being signified in Parliament on 11 December The Act provided that he and his descendants if any were not to have any right title or interest in or to the succession to the Throne Edward died childless in 1972 Edward s abdication was a demise of the Crown in the words of the Act and the Duke of York his brother who was then next in the line immediately succeeded to the throne and to its rights privileges and dignities taking the regnal name George VI He in turn was succeeded in 1952 by his elder daughter Elizabeth II By that time the monarch of the United Kingdom no longer reigned in the greater part of Ireland which had become a republic in 1949 but was the monarch of a number of independent sovereign states Commonwealth realms She was then succeeded in 2022 by her eldest son Charles III Commonwealth realms Further information Perth Agreement Elizabeth II at her coronation in 1953 passing to the left of the Coronation ChairBy the terms of the Statute of Westminster 1931 each of the Commonwealth realms has the same person as monarch and to maintain that arrangement they have agreed to continue the same line of succession some realms do so through domestic succession laws while others stipulate whoever is monarch of the United Kingdom will also be monarch of that realm In February 1952 on her accession Elizabeth II was proclaimed as sovereign separately throughout her realms In October 2011 the heads of government of all 16 realms agreed unanimously at a meeting held in Perth Western Australia to proposed changes to the royal succession laws that would see the order of succession for people born after 28 October 2011 governed by absolute primogeniture wherein succession passes to an individual s children according to birth order regardless of sex instead of male preference primogeniture They also agreed to lift a ban on those who marry Roman Catholics The ban on Catholics themselves was retained to ensure that the monarch would be in communion with the Church of England 12 The changes came into effect across the Commonwealth realms on 26 March 2015 after legislation was made according to each realm s constitution 13 Following the changes coming into effect the positions of the first 27 in line remained unchanged including Princess Anne and her children and grandchildren until the birth of Princess Charlotte of Cambridge on 2 May 2015 The first to be affected by the changes on the day they came into effect on 26 March of that year were the children of Lady Davina Windsor her son Tane Mahuta Lewis born 2012 and her daughter Senna Kowhai Lewis born 2010 who were reversed in the order of succession becoming 29th and 28th in line respectively now 36th and 35th as of September 2022 update 14 Roles The first four individuals in the line of succession who are over 21 and the sovereign s consort may be appointed counsellors of state Counsellors of state perform some of the sovereign s duties in the United Kingdom while the sovereign is out of the country or temporarily incapacitated 15 Current rulesThe Bill of Rights and the Act of Settlement restated by the Acts of Union still govern succession to the throne They were amended in the United Kingdom by the Succession to the Crown Act 2013 which was passed mainly to make succession to the Crown not depend on gender and to make provision about Royal Marriages according to its long title thereby implementing the Perth Agreement in the UK and in those realms that by their laws have as their monarch automatically whoever is monarch of the UK Other realms passed their own legislation Anyone ineligible to succeed is treated as if they were dead That person s descendants are not also disqualified unless they are personally ineligible Marriages The Act of Settlement 1701 provides that Protestant heirs of the body that is legitimate descendants of Sophia Electress of Hanover are eligible to succeed to the throne unless otherwise disqualified The meaning of heir of the body is determined by the common law rules of male preference primogeniture the male preference criterion is no longer applicable in respect of succession to the throne to persons born after 28 October 2011 whereby older children and their descendants inherit before younger children and a male child takes precedence over a female sibling 16 Children born out of wedlock and adopted children are not eligible to succeed Illegitimate children whose parents subsequently marry are legitimated but remain ineligible to inherit note 3 The Royal Marriages Act 1772 repealed by the Succession to the Crown Act 2013 further required descendants of George II to obtain the consent of the reigning monarch to marry The requirement did not apply to descendants of princesses who married into foreign families as well as from 1936 any descendants of Edward VIII note 4 of whom there are none The Act provided however that if a dynast older than twenty five years notified the Privy Council of his or her intention to marry without the consent of the Sovereign then he or she may have lawfully done so after one year unless both houses of Parliament expressly disapproved of the marriage A marriage that contravened the Royal Marriages Act was void and the resulting offspring illegitimate and thus ineligible to succeed though the succession of the dynast who failed to obtain consent was not itself affected This also had the consequence that marriage to a Roman Catholic without permission was void so that the dynast was not disqualified from succeeding on account of being married to a Roman Catholic Thus when the future George IV attempted to marry the Roman Catholic Maria Fitzherbert in 1785 without obtaining permission from George III he did not disqualify himself from inheriting the throne in due course 2 A marriage voided by the 1772 act prior to its repeal remains void for all purposes relating to the succession to the Crown under the 2013 act 17 The constitutional crisis arising from Edward VIII s decision to marry a divorcee in 1936 led to His Majesty s Declaration of Abdication Act 1936 which provided that Edward VIII and his descendants would have no claim to the throne 18 The Act is no longer applicable because Edward died in 1972 without issue Under the Succession to the Crown Act 2013 the first six persons in line to the throne must obtain the sovereign s approval before marrying 17 Marriage without the Sovereign s consent disqualifies the person and the person s descendants from the marriage from succeeding to the Crown 17 but the marriage is still legally valid Religion Rules relating to eligibility established by the Bill of Rights are retained under the Act of Settlement and the Acts of Union 1707 Under Article II of the Treaty of Union between England and Scotland which was given legal force by the acts of the English and Scottish parliaments the succession to the throne is limited to the Heirs of Electress Sophia s body being Protestants 19 The Act of Settlement also states that whosoever shall hereafter come to the Possession of this Crown shall join in Communion with the Church of England 20 The definition of being in Communion with the Church of England has been interpreted broadly for instance King George I was Lutheran 21 The Bill of Rights specifically excludes Roman Catholics from being sovereign to the extent that they shall be excluded and be for ever uncapeable to inherit possesse or enjoy the Crowne thus ignoring any potential conversion from Roman Catholicism to Protestantism 22 As such a Roman Catholic is viewed as naturally dead for the purposes of succession 23 The Act of Settlement further provided that anyone who married a Roman Catholic was ineligible to succeed The Act did not require that the spouse be Anglican it only barred those who married Roman Catholics The Succession to the Crown Act 2013 removed the ban on individuals who marry Roman Catholics though not on Roman Catholics themselves because the monarch is Supreme Governor of the Church of England Treason Under the Treason Act 1702 and the Treason Ireland Act 1703 it is treason to endeavour to deprive or hinder any person who shall be the next in succession to the crown from succeeding to the imperial crown of this realm Since the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 the maximum penalty has been life imprisonment Accession The Accession Council normally meets in St James s Palace to proclaim the new sovereign In the Commonwealth realms upon the death of a sovereign the heir apparent or heir presumptive succeeds to the throne immediately with no need for confirmation or further ceremony 24 note 5 Nevertheless the Accession Council meets and decides upon the making of the accession proclamation which by custom has for centuries been ceremonially proclaimed in public places in London York Edinburgh and other cities The anniversary is observed throughout the sovereign s reign as Accession Day including royal gun salutes in the United Kingdom 26 Formerly a new sovereign proclaimed his or her own accession But on the death of Elizabeth I an Accession Council met to proclaim the accession of James I to the throne of England James was then in Scotland and reigning as King James VI of Scotland This precedent has been followed since Now the Accession Council normally meets in St James s Palace Proclamations since James I s have usually been made in the name of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal the Privy Council the Lord Mayor Aldermen and citizens of the City of London and other principal Gentlemen of quality though there have been variations in some proclamations The proclamation of accession of Elizabeth II was the first to make mention of representatives of members of the Commonwealth Upon his or her accession a new sovereign is required by law to make and subscribe several oaths The Bill of Rights of 1689 first required the sovereign to make a public declaration of non belief in Roman Catholicism note 6 This declaration known as the Accession Declaration is required to be taken either at the first meeting of parliament of his or her reign i e during the State Opening of Parliament or at his or her coronation whichever occurs first The wording of the declaration was changed in 1910 as the previous wording was deemed to be overly anti Catholic Rather than denouncing Roman Catholicism the sovereign now declares him or herself to be a Protestant and that he or she will uphold and maintain the Protestant succession 27 In addition to the Accession Declaration the new sovereign is required by the Acts of Union 1707 to make an oath to maintain and preserve the Church of Scotland 28 This oath is normally made at the sovereign s first meeting of the Privy Council following his or her accession According to the Regency Act 1937 should the sovereign be under the age of 18 such oaths and declarations required to be taken by the sovereign shall be made upon attainment of that age 29 After a period of mourning 30 the new sovereign is usually consecrated and crowned in Westminster Abbey Normally the Archbishop of Canterbury officiates though the sovereign may designate any other bishop of the Church of England A coronation is not necessary for a sovereign to reign for example Edward VIII was never crowned yet during his short reign was the undoubted king Regency Act 1937Main article Regency Act 1937 In the event that the sovereign is under 18 or is incapacitated the first person in the line of succession who is over the age of 21 or 18 in the case of the heir apparent and is domiciled in the United Kingdom becomes regent and exercises the powers of the sovereign The first four individuals in the line of succession who are over 21 or 18 in the case of the heir and the sovereign s consort may be appointed counsellors of state Counsellors of state perform some of the sovereign s duties in the United Kingdom while the sovereign is out of the country or temporarily incapacitated Otherwise individuals in the line of succession need not have specific legal or official roles See also Biography portal Royalty portal United Kingdom portalAccession Declaration Act 1910 Alternative successions of the English crown British prince British princess Family tree of the British royal family History of the English and British line of succession Jacobite succession List of British monarchs List of descendants of George V List of heirs to the British throne List of heirs to the English throne List of heirs to the Scottish throne List of monarchs in the British Isles Posthumous birth Royal Succession Bills and Acts Succession to the Crown Act 2013 United Kingdom Succession to the Throne Act 2013 Canada Royal Succession Act 2013 New Zealand Succession to the Crown Act 2015 Australia Explanatory notes Males born on or before 28 October 2011 precede their elder sisters in the line of succession 1 a b Albert and Leopold Windsor were listed on the official website of the British monarchy until 2015 and in the 2013 edition of Whitaker s Almanack as following Estella Taylor b 2004 and eligible to succeed MSN News Debrett s and Whitaker s Almanack 2015 and 2021 list them after Lady Amelia Windsor and before Lady Helen Taylor They were baptised as Catholics and are not listed in line in editions of Whitaker s earlier than 2012 Neither the Legitimacy Act 1926 nor the Legitimacy Act 1959 changed the Law of Succession Per the His Majesty s Declaration of Abdication Act 1936 A letter from Tony Newton as Lord President of the Council to Tony Benn indicated this was the effect of the Act of Settlement after Benn had indicated he intended to block the next accession at the Privy Council 25 This declaration was similar to what members of both Houses of Parliament were originally required to take by the Test Acts Eventually by the time it was changed in 1910 the monarch was the only one left required to make the declaration ReferencesCitations a b c Succession Official website of the British monarchy Archived from the original on 13 May 2016 Retrieved 19 September 2022 a b Bogdanor 1995 p 55 Reitwiesner W A Persons eligible to succeed to the British Throne as of 1 Jan 2001 wargs com Archived from the original on 9 June 2005 Lewis David Persons eligible to succeed to the British Throne as of 1 Jan 2011 wargs com Archived from the original on 17 May 2011 Line of succession to the throne The Sydney Morning Herald 7 February 1952 p 6 Archived from the original on 12 March 2016 Chrimes S B 1999 Henry VII Yale University Press p 50 ISBN 9780300078831 Rotuli Parliamentorum A D 1485 1 Henry VII Archived from the original on 6 March 2016 Smith G Barnett 1892 History of the English Parliament Archived 19 March 2021 at the Wayback Machine Ward Lock Bowden amp Co p 298 Succession to the Crown Act 1603 Archived 5 June 2016 at the Wayback Machine Princess Sophia www parliament uk Archived from the original on 3 June 2020 Retrieved 3 June 2020 Prince of Wales proclaimed King Edward VIII London UPI 21 January 1936 Archived from the original on 20 August 2017 Retrieved 20 August 2017 Girls equal in British throne succession BBC News 28 October 2011 Archived from the original on 16 January 2021 Retrieved 21 June 2018 The Succession to the Crown Act 2013 Commencement Order 2015 Archived 29 May 2021 at the Wayback Machine legislation gov uk Clegg Nick 26 March 2015 Commencement of Succession to the Crown Act 2013 Written statement Archived 5 July 2016 at the Wayback Machine UK Parliament What do the new royal succession changes mean Archived 28 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine Royal Central 26 March 2015 unreliable source Line of Succession Debrett s Archived from the original on 8 March 2023 Retrieved 8 March 2023 Counsellors of State The Royal Family Retrieved 13 June 2023 Blackstone 1765 a b c Succession to the Crown Act 2013 Archived 9 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine UK Parliament Section 3 His Majesty s Declaration of Abdication Act 1936 section 2 Article II of the Treaty of Union in the Union With Scotland Act 1706 Archived from the original on 16 October 2021 Retrieved 16 October 2021 Act of Settlement section 3 Lathbury Thomas 1858 A History of the Book of Common Prayer and Other Books of Authority Oxford John Henry and James Parker p 430 George I remained a Lutheran as long as he lived and had his German chaplain but he conformed on some occasions with the Church of England George II was in the same position Though Lutherans they exercised acts of supremacy in the Church of England and the common opinion was that there was no opposition between the views of the two Churches Bill of Rights Archived 26 August 2021 at the Wayback Machine section I Bill of Rights section I Act of Settlement preamble Accession Archived 5 June 2016 at the Wayback Machine Official website of the British monarchy Retrieved 7 May 2016 Bogdanor 1995 p 45 Gun Salutes Archived 1 April 2022 at the Wayback Machine Official website of the British monarchy Retrieved 7 May 2016 Accession Declaration Act 1910 schedule Union with Scotland Act 1706 article XXV And Lastly that after the Decease of Her Present Majesty whom God long preserve the Soveraign succeeding to her in the Royal Government of the Kingdom of Great Britain shall in all time comeing at his or her accession to the Crown Swear and Subscribe That they shall inviolably maintain and preserve the foresaid settlement of the True Protestant Religion with the Government Worship Discipline Right and Priviledges of this Church as above established by the Laws of this Kingdom in prosecution of the Claim of Right Regency Act 1937 section 1 2 Coronation Official website of the British monarchy Archived from the original on 5 February 2019 Retrieved 7 May 2016 General and cited sources Blackstone William 1765 Chapter 3 Of The King and His Title Archived 3 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine Commentaries on the Laws of England Vol 1 Oxford Clarendon Press Bogdanor Vernon 1995 The Monarchy and the Constitution Oxford Clarendon Press ISBN 978 0 19 829334 7 Bryant A 1975 A Thousand Years of British Monarchy London Collins Cox Noel 1999 The Law of Succession to the Crown in New Zealand Waikato Law Review 7 49 72 Archived from the original on 14 September 2015 Retrieved 7 February 2012 External linksText of the Bill of Rights 1689 Text of the Act of Settlement 1701 Full text of the Succession to the Crown Act 2013 Royal Family tree and line of succession at the BBC website 29 June 2018 Biographies of the Queen s descendants in order of their place in the line of succession British line of succession on any date back to 1820 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Succession to the British throne amp oldid 1165777185, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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