Line of succession to the British throne

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The Royal Arms of the United Kingdom (as displayed outside Scotland) since the accession of Queen Victoria in 1837, featuring the arms of England in the first and third quarter, Scotland in the second, and Ireland in the fourth.

Electress Sophia of Hanover.

The line of succession to the British Throne is a partial list of the people in line to succeed to the throne of the United Kingdom. The succession is regulated by the Act of Settlement 1701 and common law.^[1] It is restricted to the heirs of the Electress Sophia of Hanover, as determined by male-preference primogeniture, religion, and legitimate birth:

A person is always immediately followed in the succession by his or her own legitimate descendants (his or her "line") except for any legitimate descendants who already appear higher in the line of succession. Birth order and gender matter: older sons (and their lines) come before younger sons (and theirs); a person's sons (and their lines), irrespective of age, all come before his or her daughters (and their lines).^[2]
The monarch must be a Protestant at time of accession, and enter into communion with the Church of England after accession.^[2]
Anyone who is Roman Catholic, becomes Roman Catholic, or marries a Roman Catholic is permanently excluded from the succession.^[2]
A person born to parents who are not married to each other at the time of birth (a bastard) is not included in the line of succession. The subsequent marriage of the parents does not alter this.^[3] Under British law, a child born to a married woman is assumed to be the child of her husband.

By the provisions of the Statute of Westminster 1931, the line of succession in each of the fifteen other Commonwealth Realms is legally separate from that in the United Kingdom (unless that country's constitution defers succession rules to the United Kingdom); but to date they have all remained identical.^{[citation needed]} See also: Sovereignty of the Realms

Apart from identifying the next monarch, the line of succession is also used to select the Counsellors of State (and a regent if the need arises) under the provisions of the Regency Act 1937.^[4]

The first seven positions in the line of succession have remained unchanged since the birth of Princess Eugenie in March 1990.

For past versions of the line, see History of the British line of succession.

1 Format of the list
2 Line of succession
3 Consorts in the line of succession
4 Other monarchs in the line of succession
5 Other royal and princely houses in the line
6 Former lines of succession to the throne
7 References
- 7.1 Footnotes
8 See also

Format of the list

This list is sectioned roughly every other generation with some exceptions. Boldfaced explanations show how the people in the following block descend from the Electress Sophia of Hanover.

Individuals who are descended from the Electress Sophia, but are excluded from the line of succession for various reasons are marked as skipped.

Superscript letters are placed after a name to indicate the source of the name or the reason for exclusion from the line of succession.

Names with superscript letter ^B are listed at The Official Web Site of the British Monarchy, "Succession".

Names with superscript letter ^R are listed by William Addams Reitwiesner, "Persons Eligible to Succeed to the British Throne as of 1 Jan 2001".

Names with superscript letter ^W are listed by Dan Willis, The Descendants of King George I of Great Britain (Baltimore: Clearfield, 2002) or in its online updates.

Names with superscript letters ^XMP are excluded on account of marriage to a Roman Catholic.^[5]

Names with superscript letters ^XP are excluded on account of being a Roman Catholic.^[5]

Names with superscript letters ^XI are excluded in accordance with the general interpretation of English Common Law by which illegitimate children have no rights of succession to the British Crown. Illegitimate children whose parents later marry do not thereby gain any succession rights to the British Crown.^[3]