Succession to the British throne is determined by descent, sex, legitimacy, and religion. Under common law, the Crown is inherited by a sovereign's children or by a childless sovereign's nearest collateral line. The Bill of Rights 1689 and the Act of Settlement 1701 restrict succession to the throne to the legitimate Protestant descendants of Sophia of Hanover who are in "communion with the Church of England". Spouses of Catholics were disqualified from 1689 until the law was amended in 2015. Protestant descendants of those excluded for being Roman Catholics are eligible.Bogdanor (1995), p. 55.
King Charles III has been the sovereign since 2022, and his heir apparent is his elder son, William, Prince of Wales. William's three children are next, in order of birth: Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis. Fifth in line is Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, the younger son of the King; sixth is Harry's elder child, Prince Archie. Under the Perth Agreement, which came into effect in 2015, only the first six in line of succession require the sovereign's consent before they marry; without such consent, they and their children would be disqualified from succession.
The United Kingdom is one of the Commonwealth realms, which are sovereign states that share the same person as monarch and the same order of succession. In 2011, the prime ministers of the then-16 realms agreed unanimously to amend the rules of succession. Male-preference (cognatic) primogeniture was abandoned, meaning that males born after 28 October 2011 no longer precede females (elder sisters) in line, and the ban on marriages to Catholics was lifted, though the monarch still needs to be in communion with the Church of England. After the necessary legislation had been enacted in accordance with each realm's constitution, the changes took effect on 26 March 2015.
Current line of succession No official, complete version of the line of succession is maintained. The exact number, in more remote collateral lines, of the people who would be eligible is uncertain. In 2001, American genealogist William Addams Reitwiesner compiled a list of 4,973 living descendants of Electress Sophia of Hanover, in order of succession without omitting Roman Catholics. When updated in January 2011, the list included 5,753. The final person in both lists, number 4,973 and 5,753, was Karin Vogel (born 1973), a therapist from Rostock, Germany.
As of 2026, the UK government is considering legislation to remove Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor from the line of succession, which would require the consent of all Commonwealth realms. Formerly known as "Prince Andrew, Duke of York," the King's brother has been publicly disgraced and stripped of all titles due to his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and accusations of sexual abuse. The governments of Canada, Australia, and New Zealand have stated that they would support such a measure.
The annotated list below covers the first part of this line of succession, being limited to descendants of the sons of King George V, King Charles III's great-grandfather. People named in are unnumbered either because they are deceased or because sources report them to be excluded from the succession.
+ Notes and sources Mark Source for listing or note on exclusion from succession Current monarch Previous monarch Official website of the British monarchy"Succession", retrieved 21 August 2026 Debrett's website (): "The Line of Succession" Whitaker's Almanack 2021Whitaker's Almanack, 2021. Oxford: Rebellion, , p. 26 These people had been excluded through marriage to a Roman Catholic. This exclusion was repealed on 26 March 2015, restoring them to the line of succession, when the Perth Agreement came into effect. Excluded as Roman Catholics. This exclusion is not affected by changes subsequent to the Perth Agreement.
(born 1948) William, Prince of Wales (born 1982) Prince George of Wales (born 2013) Princess Charlotte of Wales (born 2015) Prince Louis of Wales (born 2018) Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex (born 1984) Prince Archie of Sussex (born 2019) Princess Lilibet of Sussex (born 2021) Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor (born 1960) Princess Beatrice (born 1988) Sienna Mapelli Mozzi (born 2021) Athena Mapelli Mozzi (born 2025) Princess Eugenie (born 1990) August Brooksbank (born 2021) Ernest Brooksbank (born 2023) Adelaide Brooksbank (born 2026) Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh (born 1964) James, Earl of Wessex (born 2007) Lady Louise Windsor (born 2003) Anne, Princess Royal (born 1950) Peter Phillips (born 1977) Savannah Phillips (born 2010) Isla Phillips (born 2012) Zara Tindall (née Phillips; born 1981) Mia Tindall (born 2014) Lena Tindall (born 2018) Lucas Tindall (born 2021)
David Armstrong-Jones, 2nd Earl of Snowdon (born 1961) Charles Armstrong-Jones, Viscount Linley (born 1999) Lady Margarita Armstrong-Jones (born 2002) Lady Sarah Chatto (née Armstrong-Jones; born 1964) Samuel Chatto (born 1996) Arthur Chatto (born 1999)
Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester (born 1944) Alexander Windsor, Earl of Ulster (born 1974) Xan Windsor, Lord Culloden (born 2007) Lady Cosima Windsor (born 2010) Lady Davina Windsor (born 1977) Senna Lewis (born 2010) Tāne Lewis (born 2012) Lady Rose Gilman (née Windsor; born 1980) Lyla Gilman (born 2010) Rufus Gilman (born 2012)
Prince Edward, Duke of Kent (born 1935) George Windsor, Earl of St Andrews (born 1962) (born 1988) (née Windsor; born 1992) Lady Amelia Windsor (born 1995) (born 1970) Albert Windsor (born 2007) Leopold Windsor (born 2009) Louis Windsor (born 2014) Lady Helen Taylor (née Windsor; born 1964) Columbus Taylor (born 1994) Cassius Taylor (born 1996) Eloise Taylor (born 2003) Estella Taylor (born 2004) Prince Michael of Kent (born 1942) Lord Frederick Windsor (born 1979) Maud Windsor (born 2013) Isabella Windsor (born 2016) Lady Gabriella Kingston (née Windsor; born 1981) Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy (born 1936) James Ogilvy (born 1964) Alexander Ogilvy (born 1996) Flora Vesterberg (née Ogilvy; born 1994) Isabel Vesterberg (born 2026) Marina Ogilvy (born 1966) Christian Mowatt (born 1993) Zenouska Mowatt (born 1990)
History
England
The line of succession was governed by the common law rule of primogeniture until the fourteenth century, when Parliament first began to legislate on the subject. However, this was not invariably followed. The sons of William the Conqueror contested each other for the throne, and his granddaughter Matilda was passed over for his grandson King Stephen, even though Matilda's father had been king, and Stephen's claim was only that his mother had been William's daughter. After the death of Richard I in 1199, the throne should have gone to his nephew Arthur, the son of his next brother Geoffrey, but as Arthur was still only a child, Richard's youngest brother John was able to take the throne for himself, under the pretext that he was a closer relative to the late king than Arthur, who was one generation removed.Commentaries on the Laws of England, book 1, chapter 3: "Of the King, and His Title" (1765-69), Sir William Blackstone John bolstered his claim to the throne by having his nephew secretly killed.
When Richard II was deposed in 1399 by Henry IV, Henry also usurped another relative with a better claim, Edmund, Earl of March. Richard and Henry were the grandsons of Edward III by, respectively, Edward's first and fourth sons; Edmund was descended from Edward's third son, and so was placed ahead of Henry in the line of succession. However, as Edmund was only seven at the time, and Henry's position would not have been secure with any lesser title than king, Henry took the throne for himself, with the endorsement of Parliament.7 Hen. IV. c. 2 Decades later, the rival House of York, which was descended from Edmund's sister Anne de Mortimer, seized the throne from Henry's grandson during the Wars of the Roses.
In 1485, Henry Tudor, a female-line descendant of a legitimated branch of the royal house of Lancaster, the House of Beaufort, assumed the English crown as Henry VII, after defeating and killing Richard III in battle. Richard had been the last king of the House of York, and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty. Henry declared himself king retroactively from 21 August 1485, the day before his victory over Richard at Bosworth Field. Sir William Blackstone called Henry's hereditary claim "the most remote and unaccountable that was ever set up," and said that his subsequent marriage to Richard's niece Elizabeth of York, the daughter of Edward IV, was "his best title to the crown." Henry caused Richard's (Parliament's recognition of his own claim) to be repealed and expunged from the Rolls of Parliament. After Henry's coronation in London in October that year, his first parliament, summoned to meet at Westminster in November, enacted that "the inheritance of the crown should be, rest, remain and abide in the most royal person of the then sovereign lord, King Henry VII, and the heirs of his body lawfully coming."
Henry VII was followed by his son, Henry VIII. Though his father descended from the Lancastrians, Henry VIII could also claim the throne through the Yorkist line, as his mother Elizabeth was the daughter of Edward IV. In 1542, Henry also assumed the title King of Ireland; this would pass down with the monarchs of England, and later Great Britain, until the separate crowns merged in 1800.
Henry VIII's multiple marriages led to several complications over succession. Henry VIII was first married to Catherine of Aragon, by whom he had a daughter named Mary. His second marriage, to Anne Boleyn, resulted in a daughter named Elizabeth. Henry VIII had a son, Edward, by his third wife, Jane Seymour. The Succession to the Crown Act 1533 declared Mary illegitimate; the Second Act in 1536, did the same for Elizabeth. The Third Act in 1543 did not legitimize the daughters, but did reinsert them into the line of succession after Edward, providing further "that the King should and might give, will, limit, assign, appoint or dispose the said imperial Crown and the other premises[...] by letters patent or last will in writing." Mary and Elizabeth, under Henry VIII's will, were to be followed by the granddaughters of the King's deceased sister Mary. Still excluded were Mary's still-living daughters, Frances Grey, Duchess of Suffolk and Eleanor Clifford, Countess of Cumberland. This will also excluded from the succession the descendants of Henry's sister Margaret, who were the rulers of Scotland.
Edward VI succeeded Henry VIII in 1547. Edward VI attempted to divert the course of succession in his will to prevent his Catholic half-sister, Mary, from inheriting the throne. He excluded both Mary and Elizabeth, settling on the Duchess of Suffolk's daughter, Lady Jane Grey. Jane was also originally excluded on the premise that no woman could reign over England. Nonetheless, the will, which originally referred to Jane's heirs-male, was amended to refer to Jane her heirs-male. Upon Edward VI's death in 1553, Jane was proclaimed Queen of England and Ireland. She was not universally recognised and after nine days she was overthrown by the popular Mary. As Henry VIII's will had been approved by the Succession to the Crown Act 1543, Edward's contravening will was ignored as unlawful. Mary's husband Philip was recognised as King jure uxoris from 1554 to 1558.