A relatively recent law change made history and changed the royal family forever — and not before time. When Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, now the Princess of Wales, gave birth to her third child (her second son) in 2018 Princess Charlotte made history.
It was because although her mother had given birth to a son, Charlotte’s order in the line of succession to the British throne didn’t change based on her gender. It made her the first princess who won’t be overtaken in the line to the throne by a younger brother.
This was a result of the Succession to the Crown Act of 2013, which changed tradition to state that the gender of a royal born after October 28, 2011 does not give that person, or their descendants, precedence over anyone else in determining the next monarch. Before this legislation was passed, older sisters were passed by their younger brothers in the order of succession and Charlotte would in these circumstances have dropped behind both Prince George and Prince Louis in line to the throne. This is the current line to the throne, updated as a result of the Queen's death:
1. Prince William, Prince of Wales
2. Prince George
3. Princess Charlotte
4. Prince Louis
5. Prince Harry
6. Archie Mountbatten-Windsor
7. Lilibet Mountbatten-Windsor
8. Prince Andrew
9. Princess Beatrice
10. Sienna Mapelli Mozzi
The Succession to the Crown Act was announced in 2013 but didn’t take effect until 2015, making Prince Louis, and also Princess Charlotte, the first members of the immediate royal family to be affected by its changes.
Before the 2013 act, under the Act of Settlement 1701, the throne was decided on male-preference primogeniture, meaning that brothers would precede sisters in the line of succession. This act had also prevented a Roman Catholic from inheriting the English throne and removed those who had married Roman Catholics from the line of succession.
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