According to the law of the Kingdom of Great Britain, the heir to the British throne is the eldest legitimate son of the current monarch or a previous contender for the throne. However, if the reigning person does not have a male child, then they pass to his eldest daughter. Despite the fact that according to British law, sons are given preference over female descendants, nevertheless, princesses are also considered as heirs to the throne.
Heir to the British throne
For more than sixty years now, the head of Great Britain has been a woman. 87 years old today. She is full of strength and in perfect health. Probably the secret of her longevity and good health is that she had the good fortune to marry her beloved man - a descendant of the Danish and Greek royal families, Prince Philip (later the Duke of Edinburgh), next to whom she has lived in love and harmony for 65 years. When Princess Elizabeth, after the death of her crowned grandfather, became the head of the kingdom of Great Britain, her eldest son was 4 years old. The future heir to the British throne was born in November 1948 in London. The boy grew up infantile and did not stand out among his peers. At the age of ten, he became the owner of the title of Prince of Wales and, as an annex to it, Earl of Chester. As heir to the British throne, he was obliged to receive the best education, so he was assigned to study at the prestigious Hill House School, and then at Cheam School and Gordonstoun. Charles did not shine with his abilities, however, he graduated from Trinity College at the age of 22. He was interested in archaeology, anthropology and history. The heir to the British throne also became addicted to studying at the University of Wales. Prince Charles joined the Air Force in 1971 and during the 6 years he spent in the army, the prince was promoted to the rank of commander, and in 2006 he was promoted to admiral. Later he received the rank of air chief marshal. Military service was much closer to him than science.
Personal life of Prince Charles
The heir to the British throne was known as a great ladies' man. He courted many girls in the kingdom and even proposed to his cousin Amanda Knatchbull, who nevertheless did not give him her consent to marriage. Then the prince became interested in Lady Sarah Spencer, began to court her, but married her younger sister Diana. Their wedding took place in 1982. The Prince of Wales never enjoyed the sympathy and love of his future subjects, but his wife, Princess Diana, became everyone's favorite both in England and abroad. She bore him two sons. Her first-born, who was born in 1982, became the second contender to the British throne after his parent. The name of the heir to the British throne - William - was given by his crowned grandmother.
Two years later, Prince Harry was born. He is also considered the heir to the throne. for her social and charitable activities, as well as her natural charm and democratic views, she became more and more popular with the British. This, of course, hurt her husband, and their relationship gradually deteriorated. In 1996, they had to divorce, which caused a big scandal and negatively affected the reputation of the heir to the throne. A year later, Diana died in a car accident, and Prince Charles, despite the discontent of his subjects, married his mistress Camilla Parker Bowles.
Kings and queens are somewhat different than they were 100 years ago. They are more like show business people. Modern monarchs have rather aesthetic functions; they have no role in governing the state...
Kings and queens are somewhat different than they were 100 years ago. They are more like show business people. Modern monarchs have rather aesthetic functions; they have nothing to do with governing the state.
Charles "out of business"
On August 20, the Queen of England confirmed that she had deprived her son, Prince Charles, of the throne. He now loses the right to inherit the throne, although previously it was believed that he should take the place of the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain.
Representatives of the royal house announced that Elizabeth II would not in the future request an Act of Regency, which implied the actual rule of the queen's son.
The monarch, who holds the world record for sitting on the throne and is also the oldest female politician, has said she does not want her son Charles to take the throne. After the Queen leaves her post, her place will be taken by the eldest of her grandchildren, Princess Diana's son William.
The statement says that Elizabeth II has decided to give “way to the young,” so the crown will be passed on to William and his wife, Duchess Kate Middleton.
According to her, the reason for this decision was that a new generation, younger than her son, would be able to bring prosperity to the royal House of Windsor, and would also become a positive example for all British people for many years to come.
Her Majesty added that she had been “at the helm” for 65 years and realized that William and Kate are the future. They are the ones who have the energy and all the qualities necessary to fulfill the public duty of the British august family in the modern world.
How her son Charles reacted to the decision of the head of Buckingham Palace is unknown. Most likely, he was not very happy.
But the Queen said she was doing all this for the "long-term health of the monarch." This decision may be dictated not only by the fact that Prince Charles is already old and devoid of progressive ideas, but also by the fact that he does not have a very positive image in the eyes of the British, since he was known as a traitor and the culprit in the death of his wife Diana.
Later, he even married Camilla, who was his passion for many years during his marriage. It turns out that Charles compromised the royal family, which should always have been a model of beneficence and decency.
Freedom in the sky
The Queen, apparently, loves her eldest grandson very much, since she did not limit herself to just “excommunicating” Charles.
She allowed William to make joint flights with his wife Kate, children and servants. Before this, they did not have the right to fly together. This is due to the fact that air travel is considered life-threatening.
In the event of an air disaster, the heir, who would have been on another plane, was not injured. Thus, Buckingham Palace previously decided not to risk the lives of members of the royal family. But due to permission from the queen, such joint flights have already been made.
In January 2017, Queen Elizabeth II was declared dead again. This time Russian news resources, with a link to the Buckingham Palace website. The news once again turned out to be an Internet duck. But if you think about it... “It’s a sad fact of life: no one is immortal, not even the Queen,” begins a new article in Royal Central, a publication entirely dedicated to news from the lives of monarchs. Surprisingly, but true: the always tactful British began to seriously discuss how they would live further after the death of Elizabeth II.
In mid-October 2016, the Thai emperor died, and the title of oldest reigning monarch on earth went to 90-year-old Elizabeth II. The energetic woman has ruled her 16 kingdoms for more than 60 years, making her the longest-serving monarch in British history. The vast majority of her subjects were born under her and do not know the world without her. It is not surprising that, based on the totality of the introductions, Her Majesty's subjects seriously wondered: what will happen immediately after her death is announced? The picture that the editor-in-chief of Royal Central paints is almost apocalyptic.
Enormous financial losses
The death of Elizabeth II will cost the UK economy, according to various estimates, from 1.5 to 6 billion pounds sterling of the country's GDP. And this does not include the costs of the funeral itself. Such an incredible loss will be due, first of all, to the fact that for all 12 mourning days from the moment of death to the burial of the Queen, business and social life in the country will literally freeze. Stock markets and banks will be closed indefinitely; TV networks (at least the level of the BBC) will be forced to cancel all their comedy and entertainment shows, and the same will happen to theaters and concert venues across the country. The entertainment industry will suffer incredible losses (and it is not alone). The day of the funeral will be declared an official holiday so that everyone can say goodbye to the Queen online. Not only economists know what a day of unscheduled downtime for an entire state is.
"The King is Dead, Long Live the King"
There is an ancient tradition according to which the royal power is never interrupted, and as soon as one monarch gives up the ghost, his place is immediately taken by his successor. For this reason, the Royal Standard (i.e., the flag) is never flown at half-mast, like other flags, during times of mourning. Those rare cases when this rule of succession was violated are known in history as “times of troubles.” So, by the time the Queen's death is announced, the United Kingdom will already have a new monarch. And with 100% probability it will be Crown Prince Charles (and not William, as frivolous media often write). Because there is no other succession to the throne.
The secret of the king's name
It is a mistake to think that the next king will be called Charles (Charles). It is not yet known which of his four names the current crown prince will use as monarch. The choice is: Charles III, Philip II, George VII or Arthur I. How likely is a name change? It is significant, according to experts. The name of the new king will be announced along with the official announcement of the death of his mother. But we will see the festive ceremony of the official coronation only after 5-6 months - these are the traditions of “mourning” for the deceased monarch.
Oath with crossed fingers
According to the rules that have survived to this day, even before the funeral of the deceased queen, various government structures are required to swear allegiance to the new king. This is done, among other things, by both houses of Parliament. Since tradition cannot be broken, the few republicans who advocate the abolition of the monarchy in the country take the oath with their fingers pointedly crossed behind their backs. So, adult serious men are trying to convince themselves of the inconsistency of what is happening.
Two million roses
More precisely, two million bouquets will be ordered for Elizabeth's funeral in the royal flower beds and gardening farms. Jokes aside, this is official information.
Three billion viewers
This is the number of those who want to watch the funeral live, according to analysts. This includes those who will watch the ceremony online from a distance, and those who want to get on the streets of London on this day. But it may be safer to stay at home.
Unprecedented Security Measures
All the days before the funeral, and especially on the day of the burial, all the armed forces and security services of the country will be on full combat readiness. The Queen's funeral will attract not only millions of people who want to mourn the legendary monarch, but also hundreds of inadequate people. And most importantly, it is a unique show platform for carrying out ideological terrorist attacks live. Of course, such enhanced measures will cost the state treasury a tidy sum.
A dangerous time for the British monarchy
The Queen's death will prompt soul-searching not only in the United Kingdom, but also in the former colonies now called the British Overseas Territories. For those who advocate the abolition of the parliamentary monarchy, this will be the most convenient time to initiate relevant referendums. In an interview with The Independent, the head of the Republican movement (numbering just over 5 thousand activists and 35 thousand sympathizers) Graham Smith said that living in the 21st century people have already received the right to choose their own rulers, and there can be no question of any inheritance rights . “The majority does not support the monarchy, but Elizabeth,” the politician believes. From his point of view, the moment between the death of Elizabeth II and the official coronation of Charles will be the best time to end the monarchy in the country.
Unpopular king
If Elizabeth for many is a symbol of their country, with whom they were born and raised, then Charles does not have such credit for unconditional love and reverence. Moreover, this will be the first monarch in the memory of the vast majority of Britons with skeletons in the closet and a martyr as his first wife. And he will somehow have to solve this problem, because his unpopularity plays into the hands of those who oppose the monarchy in the country. However, it will not come to abdication in favor of William. This would give even more trump cards to the anti-monarchists.
Money will have to be reprinted
Incredible, but true: after the death of the queen, the British will have to change the portraits of monarchs on all media, including coins. The profile of Elizabeth II should be hastily replaced by the profile of the new king before the day of the official coronation. The same applies to all official letterheads, ceremonial portraits and even stripes of some law enforcement officers.
In other words, Royal Central concludes, after the death of the Queen is announced, life in the country (and in the world too) will not freeze for some time. So, we’d better wish Elizabeth II to celebrate her centenary in 2026. Which is quite realistic, considering that her mother lived to be 101 years old.
The Act of Succession to the Throne was passed by the English Parliament in 1701 and provides that the throne passes to male heirs first.
Queen Elizabeth II came to the throne only because her father, King George VI, had no sons; if she had a brother, even a younger one, then the crown would go to him. In addition to giving priority to male heirs, the Succession Act provides that a Catholic or a person married to a Catholic cannot become King or Queen of England.
However, the law does not formally prohibit members of the royal family from marrying adherents of other religions or atheists.
There have been discussions about changing the order of succession to the throne in Great Britain since the early 1980s. However, this idea did not find support from the British government.
In 2011, in order to bring the law into line with modern social norms of gender equality and religious freedom, the issue of succession reform was brought up for discussion. Final approval of the new law required the consent of all 16 member states of the Commonwealth of Nations, where the British monarch is formally the head of state.
On 28 October 2011, at the Commonwealth Summit, the organization's heads of state and government approved New Rules that abolish the British monarchy's tradition of male succession to the throne. Now the heir will be considered the first child born to the royal couple, regardless of gender. The principle that a future British monarch could not marry a Catholic was also annulled.
In April 2013, the UK's Succession to the Throne Act, enacting the reforms, was passed into law. But it will not come into force unless all 16 Commonwealth countries agree to the same changes by order of Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg in his capacity as Lord President of the Privy Council.
In the future, changes to the rules of succession to the British throne will mean that third in line to the British throne after Prince Charles of Wales and Duke William of Cambridge could be the first child of William and his wife Catherine, regardless of gender. In this case, Prince Charles's youngest son, Prince Harry, would only take fourth place.
On June 7, 2013, professors Genevieve Motard and Patrick Taillon, constitutional law experts at Laval University in the Canadian province of Quebec, filed a lawsuit in the Quebec Superior Court. They claim the Canadian government acted unconstitutionally by failing to obtain the approval of each of the country's ten provinces before agreeing to changes to the law of succession. Their case, expected to take between six months and five years, threatens to derail efforts by Commonwealth leaders to quickly change the law.
Due to a lawsuit, the first child of Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge, Catherine, may not inherit the throne if a girl is born.
Currently (as of July 20, 2013), according to the current Act of Succession 1701, after Queen Elizabeth II succession to the throne occurs in the following order:
1. Charles Philip Arthur George, Prince of Wales, born in 1948, eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II, heir to the throne (future King Charles III);
2. William Arthur Philip Louis, Duke of Cambridge, born in 1982, son of the Prince of Wales (future King William V);
3. Prince Henry (Harry) Charles Albert David, born in 1984, son of the Prince of Wales;
4. Andrew Albert Christian Edward (Prince Andrew), Duke of York (Andrew Albert Christian Edward, Duke of York), born in 1960, son of Queen Elizabeth II;
5. Princess Beatrice of York (Beatrice Elizabeth Mary of York), born in 1988, daughter of the Duke of York;
6. Princess Eugenie of York (Eugenie Victoria Helena of York), born in 1990, daughter of the Duke of York;
7. Edward Anthony Richard Louis (Prince Edward), Earl of Wessex (Edward Antony Richard Louis, Earl of Wessex), born in 1964, son of Queen Elizabeth II;
8. James Windsor, Viscount Severn, born in 2007, son of the Earl of Wessex;
9. Lady Louise Windsor, born in 2003, daughter of the Earl of Wessex;
10. Princess Royal Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise of Great Britain, born in 1950, daughter of Queen Elizabeth II;
11. Peter Mark Andrew Phillips, born in 1977, son of the Princess of Great Britain;
12. Savannah Phillips, born in 2010, daughter of Peter Phillips;
13. Isla Phillips, born in 2012, daughter of Peter Phillips;
14. Zara Phillips (Zara Anne Elizabeth, Mrs. Michael Tindall), born in 1981, daughter of the Princess of Great Britain.
Egbert the Great (Anglo-Saxon. Ecgbryht, English Egbert, Eagberht) (769/771 - February 4 or June 839) - king of Wessex (802 - 839). A number of historians consider Egbert to be the first king of England, since for the first time in history he united under the rule of one ruler most of the lands located on the territory of modern England, and the remaining regions recognized his supreme power over themselves. Officially, Egbert did not use such a title and it was first used in his title by King Alfred the Great.
Edward II (English: Edward II, 1284-1327, also called Edward of Caernarfon, after his birthplace in Wales) was an English king (from 1307 until his deposition in January 1327) from the Plantagenet dynasty, son of Edward I.
The first English heir to the throne who bore the title “Prince of Wales” (according to legend, at the request of the Welsh to give them a king who was born in Wales and did not speak English, Edward I showed them his newborn son, who had just been born in his camp) . Having inherited the throne of his father at the age of less than 23, Edward II was very unsuccessful in his military operations against Scotland, whose troops were led by Robert the Bruce. The king's popularity was also undermined by his commitment to the people's hated favorites (who were believed to be the king's lovers) - the Gascon Pierre Gaveston, and then the English nobleman Hugh Despenser the Younger. Edward's reign was accompanied by conspiracies and rebellions, the inspiration of which was often the king's wife, Queen Isabella, the daughter of the French king Philip IV the Fair, who fled to France.
Edward III, Edward III (Middle English Edward III) (November 13, 1312 - June 21, 1377) - king of England from 1327 from the Plantegenet dynasty, son of King Edward II and Isabella of France, daughter of King Philip IV the Fair of France .
Richard II (English Richard II, 1367-1400) - English king (1377-1399), representative of the Plantagenet dynasty, grandson of King Edward III, son of Edward the Black Prince.
Richard was born in Bordeaux - his father fought in France on the fields of the Hundred Years' War. When the Black Prince died in 1376, while Edward III was still alive, the young Richard received the title Prince of Wales, and a year later inherited the throne from his grandfather.
Henry IV of Bolingbroke (English: Henry IV of Bolingbroke, April 3, 1367, Bolingbroke Castle, Lincolnshire - March 20, 1413, Westminster) - king of England (1399-1413), founder of the Lancastrian dynasty (junior branch of the Plantagenets).
Henry V (English Henry V) (August 9, according to other sources, September 16, 1387, Monmouth Castle, Monmouthshire, Wales - August 31, 1422, Vincennes (now in Paris), France) - king of England since 1413, from the Lancaster dynasty, one of the greatest commanders of the Hundred Years' War. Defeated the French at the Battle of Agincourt (1415). According to the Treaty of Troyes (1420), he became the heir of the French king Charles VI the Mad and received the hand of his daughter Catherine. He continued the war with Charles’s son, the Dauphin (the future Charles VII), who did not recognize the treaty, and died during this war, just two months before Charles VI; if he had lived these two months, he would have become king of France. He died in August 1422, presumably from dysentery.
Henry VI (English Henry VI, French Henri VI) (December 6, 1421, Windsor - May 21 or 22, 1471, London) - the third and last king of England from the Lancaster dynasty (from 1422 to 1461 and from 1470 to 1471). The only English king who bore the title “King of France” during and after the Hundred Years’ War, who was actually crowned (1431) and reigned over a significant part of France.
Edward IV (April 28, 1442, Rouen - April 9, 1483, London) - king of England in 1461-1470 and 1471-1483, a representative of the York Plantagenet line, seized the throne during the Wars of the Roses.
Eldest son of Richard, Duke of York and Cecilia Neville, brother of Richard III. On his father's death in 1460, he inherited his titles as Earl of Cambridge, March and Ulster and Duke of York. In 1461, at the age of eighteen, he ascended the English throne with the support of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick.
Was married to Elizabeth Woodville (1437-1492), children:
Elizabeth (1466-1503), married to King Henry VII of England,
Maria (1467-1482),
Cecilia (1469-1507),
Edward V (1470-1483?),
Richard (1473-1483?),
Anna (1475-1511),
Catherine (1479-1527),
Bridget (1480-1517).
The king was a great lover of women and, in addition to his official wife, was secretly engaged to one or more women, which later allowed the royal council to declare his son Edward V illegitimate and, together with his other son, imprison him in the Tower.
Edward IV died unexpectedly on April 9, 1483.
Edward V (November 4, 1470(14701104)-1483?) - King of England from April 9 to June 25, 1483, son of Edward IV; not crowned. Deposed by his uncle the Duke of Gloucester, who declared the king and his younger brother Duke Richard of York illegitimate children, and himself became King Richard III. A 12-year-old and a 10-year-old boy were imprisoned in the Tower; their further fate is precisely unknown. The most common point of view is that they were killed on the orders of Richard (this version was official under the Tudors), but various researchers accuse many other figures of that time, including Richard’s successor Henry VII, of the murder of the princes.
Richard III (English: Richard III) (October 2, 1452, Fotheringhay - August 22, 1485, Bosworth) - King of England since 1483, from the York dynasty, the last representative of the Plantagenet male line on the English throne. Brother of Edward IV. He took the throne, removing the young Edward V. At the Battle of Bosworth (1485) he was defeated and killed. One of two kings of England to die in battle (after Harold II, killed at Hastings in 1066).
Henry VII (eng. Henry VII;)