Successor to queen elizabeth 11 biography

Law governing who can become British monarch

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.

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. 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

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Prince William is the elder son of King Charles III and Diana, Princess of Wales, and is now first in line to the throne.

He was 15 when his mother died. He went on to study at the University of St Andrews, where he met his future wife, Kate Middleton. The couple were married in 2011.

On his 21st birthday he was appointed a Counsellor of State - standing in for the late queen on official occasions. He and his wife had their first child, George, in July 2013, their second, Charlotte, in 2015 and third, Louis, in 2018.

The prince trained with the Army, Royal Navy and RAF before spending three years as an RAF search-and-rescue pilot with RAF Valley on Anglesey, north Wales. He also worked part-time for two years as a co-pilot with the East Anglian Air Ambulance alongside his royal duties. He left the role in July 2017 to take on more royal duties on behalf of his grandparents.

William inherited the Duchy of Cornwall estate from his father and is now the Prince of Wales. Catherine is now the Princess of Wales.

As heir to the throne, his main duties are to support the King in his royal commitments.

King of the United Kingdom from 1936 to 1952

For other uses, see George VI (disambiguation).

George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death in 1952. He was also the last Emperor of India from 1936 until the British Raj was dissolved in August 1947, and the first head of the Commonwealth following the London Declaration of 1949.

The future George VI was born during the reign of his great-grandmother Queen Victoria; he was named Albert at birth after his great-grandfather Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and was known as "Bertie" to his family and close friends. His father ascended the throne as George V in 1910. As the second son of the king, Albert was not expected to inherit the throne. He spent his early life in the shadow of his elder brother, Edward, the heir apparent. Albert attended naval college as a teenager and served in the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force during the First World War. In 1920, he was made Duke of York. He marriedLady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon in 1923, and they had two daughters, Elizabeth and M