Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet are enjoying a life away from the royal chaos of the UK. Indeed, unlike Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, the children of the Sussexes do not have to join royal events and can live a relatively quiet life.
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However, as Prince Harry and Meghan Markle found out very quickly, being away from the UK doesn’t prevent them from catching the attention of tabloids. It also doesn’t stop the Royal Family from impacting their lives.
A royal expert explains that Prince Archie, and possibly Princess Lilibet, will have to follow this one old royal rule.
Prince Archie will have to ask permission
According to Richard Fitzwilliams who spoke to Newsweek,Prince Archie will have to follow the Succession to the Crown Act. Under this act, the first six people in line for the throne have to ask the monarch for permission to marry.
The royal expert explains that not following this Act is a significant risk for members of the Royal Family. Indeed, their marriages would have no standing in Britain. Moreover, any children born of that union would be considered ‘illegitimate’ and have no claim to the throne. Finally, it isn’t just the children who could be barred from the line of succession for the parents as well.
For Prince Archie this would mean that he would be removed from the succession line.
What is the Succession to the Crown Act?
The Succession to the Crown Act which bounds Prince Archie at the moment has more than one aspect to it. The first aspect, of course concerns marriages. This Succession to the Crown Act came into effect in 2013 and is an amendment to the 1772 Royal Marriages Act.
Under the Royal Marriages Act, put in place by King George II, which stayed in place for over 200 years, all members of the Royal Family had to ask permission to the monarch before marrying. Now, as this rule only applies to the first six people in line, there could be some ways out for Prince Archie.
For instance, if any of the Wales children have children of their own before Prince Archie gets married, he will be further down the line of succession and no longer required to ask permission from people he is rumoured to have no contact with.
The second aspect concerns the place of women in the succession line. The Royal Family website explains:
(it) amended the provisions of the Bill of Rights and the Act of Settlement to end the system of male primogeniture, under which a younger son can displace an elder daughter in the line of succession.
In a very practical sense, this means that, for the first time ever, Princess Charlotte wasn’t bumped down the succession line by the birth of her little brother, Prince Louis.
Read more:
⋙ Prince Archie: New photo revealed as Prince Harry makes rare confession about his son
⋙ Meghan Markle once made a 'secret' name change to son Prince Archie's birth certificate
Sources:
Newsweek: Why Prince Archie May Not Be Free of Bizarre Royal Rule
