What is the line of succession?
The line of succession in the British royal family is the order of individuals who will inherit the throne after the current monarch dies.
How has the line of succession changed recently?
On 22 January 2025, the newest member of the royal family was born. Athena Elizabeth Rose Mapelli Mozzi is the second child of Princess Beatrice, the daughter of Prince Andrew, and her husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi. Athena is now eleventh in the line of succession.
What is the line of succession?
The royal family has published a list of the 25 people in the line of succession after King Charles III, who are as follows:
- The Prince of Wales, Prince William
- Prince George of Wales
- Princess Charlotte of Wales
- Prince Louis of Wales
- Harry, the Duke of Sussex
- Harry’s son, Prince Archie of Sussex
- Harry’s daughter, Princess Lilibet of Sussex
- The Duke of York, Prince Andrew
- Princess Beatrice, Mrs. Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi
- Miss Sienna Mapelli Mozzi, Princess Beatrice’s older daughter
- Miss Athena Mapelli Mozzi
- Princess Eugenie, Mrs. Jack Brooksbank, Prince Andrew’s younger daughter
- Master August Brooksbank, Princess Eugenie’s son
- Master Ernest Brooksbank, Princess Eugenie’s son
- Prince Edward, the youngest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip and the Duke of Edinburgh
- James, the Earl of Wessex, Prince Edward’s son
- Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor, Prince Edward’s daughter
- Anne, the Princess Royal
- Mr Peter Phillips, Princess Anne’s son
- Miss Savannah Phillips, Peter Phillips’ daughter
- Miss Isla Phillips, Peter Phillips’ daughter
- Mrs Zara Tindall, Princess Anne’s daughter and wife of rugby player Michael Tindall
- Miss Mia Tindall, Zara Tindall’s daughter
- Miss Lena Tindall, Zara Tindall’s daughter
- Master Lucas Tindall, Zara Tindall’s son
How is the line of succession decided?
When James II, the last Catholic monarch of England, Scotland and Ireland, fled the country, Parliament, fed up with decades of conflict over religion, decided that Royal succession needed to be regulated. The Act of Settlement in 1701 restricted the throne to the legitimate Protestant descendants of Sophia of Hanover with preference to the male line (male primogeniture, where sons have preference over daughters even if their sisters are older). Now that might seem odd as Sophia, who was Electress of Hanover was never our queen, but she was, at one point next in line. She died less than two months before she would have inherited the throne and her son became George I.
Are women allowed in the line of succession?
In 2013, the Succession to the Crown Act ended the system of male primogeniture. Children in the royal family are now placed in the line of succession by age, not by gender. The Act only applies to those born after 28 October 2011, which is why, for instance, Princess Charlotte has preference over her brother Prince Louis in the list above but Princess Anne is behind her own brothers.
The Act also removed the restriction on heirs marrying Catholics. Interestingly, the six people closest in line to the throne still have to have their marriage approved by the monarch if they want to stay in the queue.
Is Prince Harry still in the line of succession?
In January 2020 Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle stepped down as senior members of the royal family. This means that they are no longer addressed as His or Her Royal Highness and Harry gave up his military titles, but they retained the titles of Duke and Duchess of Sussex and Harry and his children remain in the line of succession behind Prince William and his children.
How to tell if you're in the line of succession
Surprisingly, many people have at least some remote royal ancestry. But does that mean you could have a claim to the throne?
The most recent known list of the heirs to the throne beyond the initial 25 is this list, published in 2011 and based on work by the American genealogist William Addams Reitwiesner researching the descendants of Sophia of Hanover. It includes 5753 people. Bottom of the list is Karin Vogel, a German hospital therapist who was born in 1973.
The fact that she is German shouldn’t surprise you. Remember we are talking about the descendants of Sophia of Hanover. European royalty all intermarried so the list has people from Germany, Italy, Norway, Greece and Romania. There are actually relatively few Brits on the list. Once you get beyond about 75th in line to the throne, it shifts across the channel.
