Queen’s Australia Trip May Overturn Succession Law

British Prime Minister David Cameron, with the backing of the Queen, has discussed overturning the ancient law of primogeniture in the United Kingdom.

Currently, if a first-born royal child is a girl, she will be automatically superseded in the line of succession if a male sibling is born.

With the marriage of Prince William to Kate Middleton in April, the topic of primogeniture has been a major talking point. It has been deemed out of date in the current modern era, and the Queen is set to support the change. Her Majesty needs the approval of Commonwealth countries to enact such a change, so the royal tour is the time to seize the moment.

David Howell, the Foreign Office minister for the Commonwealth, said that he believed the matter of royal succession “will be discussed and I believe approved at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Perth”.

Here’s a handy list in chronological order. There have been so many royal babies, and there’s more to come… it’s hard to keep track of them all:

October 25, 2001 – Princess Elisabeth (Belgium)
December 7, 2003 – Princess Catharina-Amalia (Holland)
January 21, 2004 – Princess Ingrid Alexandra (Norway)
October 15, 2005 – Prince Christian (Denmark)
October 31, 2005 – Infanta Leonor (Spain)
September 6, 2006 – Prince Hisahito (Japan)

While things are quiet in Norway, Belgium, and now Japan, things are still happening in Denmark, Spain, and Holland respectively.

Crown Princess Mary of Denmark is pregnant with her second child, due to be born in May 2007. Crown Princess Letizia is also expecting her second child in May 2007, and Dutch Crown Princess Maxima is pregnant with a third child due in late April 2007.

Congratulations to the happy parents!

CNN.com -

The British royal family in the early 20th-century sought advice on whether a former policeman who claimed to be the true heir to the throne could be declared insane, according to government documents released Friday.

The records, released by the National Archive, show royal annoyance with Anthony Hall, who claimed during the 1920s and 1930s to be a direct descendant of King Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn. [ more ]