An Ex-Prince

Or, what is the line of succession and how can they change it?

Dear Reader,

I am sure I do not need to inform you of the long-awaited downfall of the second son of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

Some Members of Parliament are now calling for Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor to be excise from the Order of Succession to the Monarchy.

So, what is that?

The Order of Succession is the formal list of who would inherit the British throne should the monarch die.

It’s controlled by a number of Acts of Parliament. The first important one was in 1701, and is called The Act of Settlement. This is the legislation which made Bonny Prince Charlie (and his father, James III) no longer able to claim the throne (because they were Catholics,) and gave the succession to a woman called Sophia of Hanover, a granddaughter of James VI who was the Electress of Hanover in Germany (which is why the Georgian kings are called the Hanoverians).

She was the mother of the man who became George I. (She died after the Act of Settlement, but before the then-queen of England, Anne, so her son inherited. If you’re confused by any of this, I’ve made a video about it here.)

The Act of Settlement not only barred Catholics from the throne, it barred anyone married to a Catholic. This prohibition was only lifted in 2015! Prior to that, two recent members of the Royal line had been excised from the succession because they married Catholics (Prince Michael of Kent and George Windsor, Prince Edward Duke of Kent’s son, both married Catholics. Since the enactment of the 2013 Succession of the Crown Act came into effect in 2015, they have their old places back in the line.)

This ‘one is forbidden to marry a Catholic’ became important to Prince George (that is, Prinny before he became Prince Regent). He was in love with a Catholic, Maria Fitzherbert. He even went through a secret, illegal marriage to her. Why was it illegal? Because his father, George III (yes, the mad one, but before he became unable to rule), had discovered his affection for this lady, and had Parliament pass another bill, the Royal Marriages Act 1772, which required all members of the Royal Family (except the children of princesses who had married foreigners) to gain the monarch’s permission before marrying.

George III would definitely have refused permission to Prinny to marry Maria, even if the Act of Settlement 1701 hadn’t existed! And the marriage wasn’t legal anyway because it didn’t happen in a Church of England — one suspects Prinny went through with it as a sop to Maria.

Lest you think that this ‘the monarch has to give permission’ thing is long-gone…it’s not. The Succession to the Crown Act of 2013 still requires the first six people in the line of succession to gain the monarch’s permission to marry!

So, what about that Act? It’s the most recent legislation to affect the order of succession, and I’m pleased to announce that it introduced absolute primogeniture for the first time.

That means that the order of inheritance goes by age, not gender. If Prince William’s first child had been a girl (Princess Georgina instead of Prince George?) she would have inherited the crown eventually. Prior to this act, boys had precedence, and every son had to inherit and die before a daughter could inherit the crown (as with Edward VI, son of Henry VIII, dying before Mary I could take the throne, although she was much older than he was.)

This Act changed the order of succession for all royals born after 2011. Why 2011? Basically, because that was when Prince William married Kate Middleton, and it was their children who were the target of the Act. After all, it was ridiculous to think that girls shouldn’t be in the direct line after Elizabeth II had successfully ruled for 70 years!

So it’s entirely possible to change the Order of Succession with an Act of Parliament. Princes have been barred before (eg Bonnie Prince Charlie) and it wouldn’t be all that hard to do if it had bi-partisan support. The only barrier would be if the king refused to sign it into law, but one suspects he’d be only too glad to do so!

The Commonwealth countries would also have to agree and pass matching laws, but we already have a protocol for that in the Perth Agreement, so I doubt it would be a problem. It would be a brave government which refused to do it!

I’ve mentioned precedence a few times here. Precedence was a complex and fraught part of Regency life, and I have had some readers ask me to explain it.

So if you want to know whether a Marquess’ Eldest Son outranked a Duke’s Younger Son…let me know and I’ll do my best to explain it!

I remain,

your humble servant,

Elizabeth