Changes To Line Of Succession Approved

Sunday 29th March, 2015

Prince George

New changes to the Line Of Succession mean that if the new Cambridge baby is a girl, subsequent brothers cannot overtake her in succeeding the throne. 

An example of the previous law meant that Princess Anne, although second born child, was overtaken by brothers Andrew and Edward. 

Also, a monarch can now be married to a Catholic whereby previously, a member of the royal family had to give up their place in succession if they married a Catholic. This is the case for Prince Michael of Kent but he has now had his place restored.

A third change is that only the first six in line to succession need to seek the Monarch's approval for marriage instead of all members of the royal family. 

Australia was last of the Commonwealth countries where the Queen is Head of State to pass a law approving the changes this week. Britain had rushed through it's law in 2013 before the birth of Prince George of Cambridge but needed all other fifteen countries to add their consent via their own law changes.