queen elizabeth has reigned since 1952
when her father
king george vi died the queen's owner
sent to the throne didn't come about in
a traditional way
her uncle king edward viii made the
decision to depart from royal life in
1936 and recently comparisons have been
drawn between king edward and prince
harry
the main thing king edward and prince
harry have in common is that they both
married american women
who had previously been divorced wallis
simpson
and meghan markle respectively but in
the grand scheme of royal life king
edward's departure was actually a
way bigger deal than harry's prompting
massive media attention and even
conspiracy theories
as part of his role as king edward was
head of the church of england
simpson had been divorced twice and the
archbishop of canterbury
wouldn't permit a marriage between the
two a compromise was suggested
simpson wouldn't hold the title of queen
and any children they had
wouldn't be heirs to the throne however
the idea was rejected
and edward announced his decision to
abdicate in december 1936
so that he could marry simpson edward
lived until 1972 but his younger brother
and queen elizabeth's father king george
died in his sleep when he was just 56
years old
because her father had been in poor
health for quite some time elizabeth had
already taken over some of his royal
duties
but his death meant that at age 25
she would officially become queen edward
never had children
so elizabeth would have still inherited
the throne even if edward hadn't
abdicated
but it would have occurred two decades
later since edward
outlived his brother and died in 1972.
queen elizabeth and her husband prince
philip have four children
prince charles princess anne prince
andrew and prince edward
prince charles is first in line for the
throne and it's expected that he will
become
king when his mother dies prince
philip's recent death didn't have any
impact
on the line of succession if queen
elizabeth had died before her husband
prince charles would still have been
first in line because
as prince consort prince philip was
never in the line of succession
in the unlikely event that prince
charles dies before queen elizabeth the
line of succession
won't change as prince charles's oldest
child
prince william is second in line for the
throne right after his father
so if prince charles precedes queen
elizabeth in death
she'll remain on the throne until she
dies or steps down
then prince william will become king in
that scenario it's possible that he'll
be named prince of wales
the royal title signifies that a person
is heir apparent
however queen elizabeth and prince
william could choose to not
change his title to prince of wales as a
gesture of
deference to william's father title or
not he'd still become king
far sooner than anyone expected if
prince charles dies before queen
elizabeth
robert hazel professor of government and
the constitution at the university
college london
summed it all up to insider saying
during william's lifetime he will almost
certainly see his father become
king only if charles dies before the
queen would william become
king when the queen dies if things
progress as expected
queen elizabeth will pre-decease prince
charles and he'll become king
prince william will then take the throne
when his father dies or steps down
so unless he dies before his father
prince william will become king
the line of succession also makes clear
what would happen if prince william dies
before his father
hazel told the outlet if william were to
die before charles then on the death of
charles
prince george would become king
following prince george in the line of
succession are his siblings
princess charlotte and prince louis
prior to 2015 prince louis would have
overtaken his older sister in the line
of succession because of his gender
however the succession to the crown act
has gone into effect
and it states that gender won't affect a
royals place in the line of succession
as a result princess charlotte
officially made history
when her little brother was born in
2018. prince harry is
sixth in line for the throne he has not
requested a recusal
of his spot in line next after him is
archie
his and megan's son so even if he had
remained fully involved in royal life
it's highly unlikely harry would have
ever come close to becoming king
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