Agency Report
The British line of succession is currently comprised of 25 members of the British royal family.
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It begins with Prince William, who is first in line, and goes down to 4-year-old Lucas Tindall, the son of Zara and Mike Tindall, who is No. 25.
Princess Anne, who was at one point second in line to the throne, is now No. 18 because of male-preference primogeniture—which ended in 2011.
On the British royal family’s website, 25 names are listed in the line of succession, from Prince William at No. 1 in line to the throne down to Lucas Tindall, the 4-year-old son of Zara and Mike Tindall, at No. 25. In between the two are many royals—some titled, some untitled, and some with more name recognition than others. Here, we’ll look at the first 10 people in the line of succession who will carry on the House of Windsor, which was formed in 1917.
Since its formation, the House of Windsor has produced five monarchs, the current one being King Charles, who is presently on the throne. When he was born in 1948, he was second in line to the throne. After his grandfather King George VI died when he was just three years old, Charles was first in line to the throne from 1952 until 2022, when he became king at 73 years old following the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth.
Prince William, Prince of Wales
At the same time that his father became monarch, Prince William became the heir to the throne and Prince of Wales, with his wife, Kate Middleton, becoming the Princess of Wales alongside him. When William was born in 1982, he was second in line to the throne, and will take over in his father’s stead after his father’s death (may it be in the distant future).
Prince George
The eldest child of the Prince and Princess of Wales, Prince George, is second in line to the throne. George, 12, has been gently prepared for his future as king someday, beginning around the time his great-grandmother Queen Elizabeth died when he was 9 years old. However, he is unlikely to take on any official royal duties until he is an adult.
Princess Charlotte
Princess Charlotte, the only daughter of the Prince and Princess of Wales, is third in line to the throne and made history upon her May 2, 2015 birth. Because of the 2013 Succession to the Crown Act, any female royal born after October 28, 2011 will not be jumped in line by any male heirs born after them, as was the case with Princess Anne and her younger brothers (more on the Princess Royal in a moment). Even though 10-year-old Charlotte has a younger brother, Prince Louis, she retained her position in the line of succession after his birth in 2018. Birth order, not gender, dictates the line of succession now.
Prince Louis
The youngest child of the Prince and Princess of Wales, 7-year-old Prince Louis, currently sits as fourth in line to the throne. He and Charlotte will likely serve as a support system for their older brother George, though William and Kate are keen for Charlotte and George to not feel the infamous “heir and spare” dynamic that plagued William and his younger brother, Prince Harry.
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex
Speaking of Prince Harry, when the Duke of Sussex was born in 1984, he was third in line to the throne. He has since been pushed down the line of succession by the birth of his older brother William’s three children. Harry and his wife Meghan Markle stepped back as working royals in 2020 and relocated from the U.K. to California, where the Duchess of Sussex is from.
Prince Archie
The eldest child of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, though living in California with his family, is No. 6 in line to the British throne. Originally, Prince Archie was known as Master Archie Mountbatten-Windsor on the line of succession, but after King Charles took the throne, he and his younger sister Princess Lilibet embraced their royal titles (though they likely are known as Archie Sussex and Lilibet Sussex at school, not by their prince and princess titles).
Princess Lilibet
Princess Lilibet, the daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, was born in 2021, two years after her older brother Archie. While Archie was born in the U.K., Lilibet—who goes by Lili within her family—was born in the U.S., over a year after her parents left working royal life. Lilibet is named after her great-grandmother Queen Elizabeth’s familial nickname, cementing a strong tie to the late queen.
Prince Andrew, Duke of York
Male-preference primogeniture still existed in 1960, when Prince Andrew was born, meaning that he jumped his older sister, Princess Anne, in the line of succession. Andrew was a working royal until 2019, when he left royal duties following a disastrous BBC Newsnight interview that November. Because of his association with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his own sexual assault allegations, Andrew remains in the line of succession, but is not—and likely never will be—a working royal.
Princess Beatrice
Princess Beatrice, the eldest child of the Duke and Duchess of York, is No. 9 in the line of succession. Beatrice is not a working royal, having full-time employment outside of the firm at U.S. software company Afiniti. Like her older sister, Princess Eugenie—who is No. 12 in the line of succession—also works outside of the Firm, she as an art gallery director.
Sienna Elizabeth Mapelli Mozzi
The eldest daughter of Princess Beatrice and her husband, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, rounds out the tenth spot in the line of succession, with her younger sister, Athena Elizabeth Rose Mapelli Mozzi, coming in at No. 11. Both of the Mapelli Mozzi sisters do not carry titles from the British royal family, but because of their father’s ties to Italian nobility, both will be given the title of Nobile Donna (Noble Woman) someday.
Princess Eugenie
After Princess Eugenie at No. 12 are her sons August Brooksbank (No. 13) and Ernest Brooksbank (No. 14).
Prince Edward (the youngest child of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip) follows at No. 15, with his children James, Earl of Wessex at No. 16 and Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor at No. 17. (Though Louise is older, she was bumped in the line of succession because she was born prior to 2011.)
Princess Anne is at No. 18, her son Peter Phillips is at No. 19, and his daughters Savannah Phillips and Isla Phillips are at No. 20 and No. 21, respectively. Princess Anne’s daughter Zara Tindall is at No. 22 and her children Mia, Lena, and the aforementioned Lucas round out the top 25.
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