In this week's blog post, I would like to give you a overview of who can succeed to the throne in various royal families across the world. The lines of successions have certainly changed as many monarchies didn't allow women to ascend or only allowed them to ascend if there were no male heirs.
Types of succession laws:
Salic Law, this means males can only succeed.
Semi-Salic Law, this means females can only succeed if there are no eligible males.
Male-Preference Cognatic Primogeniture, this mean a female can only succeed if she has no living brothers and no deceased brothers who left surviving legitimate descendants.
Cognatic (Absolute) Primogeniture, this means that the succession passes to the eldest child of the sovereign regardless of gender.
Kingdom of Belgium:
Belgium has the Cognatic (Absolute) Primogeniture succession law and their heir is Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Brabant, she is the eldest child and daughter of the king so she has the right to ascend the throne based on their succession law.
State of Japan:
Japan operates the Salic Law but the males have to only come from the male line so, no sons born to female royalty can succeed. The Emperor only has a daughter therefore, his heir is Crown Prince Akishino who is his brother.
Kingdom of Spain:
Spain's succession law is Male-Preference Cognatic Primogeniture but the current King has only two daughters so his heir is his daughter, Leonor. However, should her parents ever have a son, Leonor will lose her right as heir and it will pass to her brother.
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland:
The succession law is the Cognatic (Absolute) Primogeniture, but this only applies to those born after 28th October 2013. Princess Charlotte of Cambridge became the first female in British history to keep her position in the line of succession to the British throne even though she has a younger brother. The heir to the throne is Charles, Prince of Wales.
It is great to see so many monarchies adopting the Cognatic (Absolute) Primogeniture succession law as it gives men and women equal succession rights.
With thanks to Unofficial Royalty for the information.
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