Charles III was crowned monarch of the United Kingdom and 14 Commonwealth realms on Saturday in Britain’s first coronation in 70 years, during a ceremony steeped in a millennium of ritual and pageantry.
Charles, 74, became the oldest monarch ever to be crowned at London’s Westminster Abbey after a lifetime as heir to his late mother Queen Elizabeth II.
Welby also crowned Charles’ wife, Camilla, 75, capping a remarkable transition from her status as one-time royal mistress to “Queen Consort” and now Queen.
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Let us understand who will become king after Charles, and how the line of succession to the monarchy is determined:
The foundations of succession were established during the constitutional processes of the seventeenth century, which culminated in the Bill of Rights (1689) and the Act of Settlement (1701). royal family Website.
When James II fled the country in 1688, Parliament declared that he had ‘abdicated the government’ and the crown became vacant. Thus the throne was offered to James’ daughter Mary and her husband William of Orange as joint rulers, rather than to his younger son James.
It was therefore established that not only was sovereign rule through parliament, but also that succession to the throne could be limited by parliament and that a ruler could be deposed for misrule. The Act of Accord confirmed that the title to the throne was determined by Parliament. The succession of the king is governed not only by lineage but also by parliamentary law. The order in which members of the royal family stand in line to the throne is known as the order of succession.
According to the Act, only the Protestant descendants of Princess Sophia, Electra of Hanover and granddaughter of James I, are eligible to succeed. This has been reinforced by subsequent Acts.
Parliament has also established various conditions that the sovereign must meet in the Bill of Rights and the Act of Settlement. A Roman Catholic is expressly barred from sitting on the throne.
Furthermore, the Sovereign must be in unity with the Church of England and promise to uphold the Established Church of England and the Established Church of Scotland. In addition, the sovereign must take an oath to protect the Protestant line of succession, the website explains.
The Succession to the Crown Act (2013) amended the Bill of Rights and Settlement Act to abolish the concept of male primogeniture, which allowed a younger son to displace an older daughter in the line of succession. The Act applies to those who were born after October 28, 2011. The act also repealed the rules that barred persons who married Roman Catholics from the line of succession. In March 2015, the adjustments went into effect in all sixteen regions.
According to the royal family website, here is the line of succession:
line of succession
Sovereign
- prince of wales
- Prince George of Wales
- princess charlotte of wales
- prince louis of wales
- duke of sussex
- Prince Archie of Sussex
- Princess Lilibet of Sussex
- duke of york
- Princess Beatrice, Mrs. Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi
- Miss Sienna Mapelli Hubs
- Princess Eugenie, Mrs Jack Brooksbank
- master august brooksbank
- duke of edinburgh
- earl of wessex
- The Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor
- princess royal
- Mr. Peter Phillips
- Miss Savannah Phillips
- miss isla phillips
- Mrs. Michael Tindall
- Miss Mia Tindall
- Miss Lena Tindall
- Master Lucas Tindall
Prince Harry, Andrew move into third line
Princes Harry and Andrew attended the coronation of King Charles III, but were relegated to the third row of royal family seating – and did not join him on the balcony of Buckingham Palace afterwards.
Charles’ younger son Harry and his American wife Meghan stepped down from royal duties in 2020 and have since launched barbed attacks on the monarchy.
Andrew, the King’s eldest brother, has been estranged from his previous relationship with the disgraced late American financier Jeffrey Epstein and a related sexual abuse allegation, which was settled out of court.
But both Harry, 38, Duke of Sussex, and Andrew, Duke of York, 63, were in royal rank for the coronation at London’s Westminster Abbey, albeit without a formal role.
Andrew was driven in a state car from Buckingham Palace to the Abbey and part of the crowd gathered at a grandstand in front of the palace as he walked past.
AFP contributed to this report
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