Succession to the British throne

The line of succession to the British throne is the order in which members of the royal family would come to the throne if the reigning king or queen died.

At present the first in line is Charles, Prince of Wales, followed by his eldest son, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and then Prince William's son, Prince George of Cambridge.

Traditionally, males came before females in the line of succession. However, the law changed on 26 March 2015, so at present, for people born after 28 October 2011 the succession is decided only by age: older children come before younger children. This system of inheritance is called absolute primogeniture, as opposed to male-preference primogeniture. When someone who is in line to the throne has a child, that child comes after them and their older children, but before anyone else in the line of succession.

Excluded from the line of succession are Catholics and illegitimate children.

Line of succession
No official, complete version of the line of succession is currently maintained. Any person's actual position in the line of succession may change when people are born or when they die. This list shows only those people who are descended from the sons of George V. 

 King George V (1865–1936)
 King Edward VIII (1894–1972)
 King George VI (1895–1952)
 Queen Elizabeth II (born 1926)
 (1) Charles, Prince of Wales (b. 1948) 
 (2) Prince William, Duke of Cambridge (b. 1982) 
 (3) Prince George of Cambridge (b. 2013) 
 (4) Princess Charlotte of Cambridge (b. 2015) 
 (5) Prince Louis of Cambridge (b. 2018) 
 (6) Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex (b. 1984) 
  (7) Archie Mountbatten-Windsor (b. 2019) 
  (8) Lilibet Mountbatten-Windsor (b. 2021)
 (9) Prince Andrew, Duke of York (b. 1960) 
 (10) Princess Beatrice (b. 1988) 
 Sienna Mapelli Mozzi (b. 2021)
 (11) Princess Eugenie (b. 1990) 
 (12) August Brooksbank (b. 2021) 
 (13) Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex (b. 1964) 
 (14) James Mountbatten-Windsor, Viscount Severn (b. 2007) 
 (15) Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor (b. 2003) 
 (16) Anne, Princess Royal (b. 1950) 
 (17) Peter Phillips (b. 1977) 
 (18) Savannah Phillips (b. 2010) 
 (19) Isla Phillips (b. 2012) 
 (20) Zara Tindall (née Phillips; b. 1981) 
 (21) Mia Tindall (b. 2014) 
 (22) Lena Tindall (b. 2018)
 (23) Lucas Tindall (b. 2021) 
 Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon (1930–2002) 
 (24) David Armstrong-Jones, 2nd Earl of Snowdon (b. 1961) 
 (25) Charles Armstrong-Jones, Viscount Linley (b. 1999) 
 (26) Lady Margarita Armstrong-Jones (b. 2002) 
 (27) Lady Sarah Chatto (née Armstrong-Jones; b. 1964) 
 (28) Samuel Chatto (b. 1996) 
 (29) Arthur Chatto (b. 1999) 
 Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester (1900–1974) 
 Prince William of Gloucester (1941–1972) 
 (30) Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester (b. 1944) 
 (31) Alexander Windsor, Earl of Ulster (b. 1974) 
 (32) Xan Windsor, Lord Culloden (b. 2007) 
 (33) Lady Cosima Windsor (b. 2010) 
 (34) Lady Davina Windsor (b. 1977) 
 (35) Senna Lewis (b. 2010) 
 (36) Tāne Lewis (b. 2012) 
 (37) Lady Rose Gilman (née Windsor; b. 1980) 
 (38) Lyla Gilman (b. 2010) 
 (39) Rufus Gilman (b. 2012) 
 Prince George, Duke of Kent (1902–1942)
 (40) Prince Edward, Duke of Kent (b. 1935) 
 (41) George Windsor, Earl of St Andrews (b. 1962) 
 Edward Windsor, Lord Downpatrick (b. 1988) 
 Lady Marina Windsor (b. 1992) 
 (42) Lady Amelia Windsor (b. 1995) 
 Lord Nicholas Windsor (b. 1970) 
 (43) Albert Windsor (b. 2007)  
 (44) Leopold Windsor (b. 2009) 
 (45) Louis Windsor (b. 2014) 
 (46) Lady Helen Taylor (née Windsor; b. 1964) 
 (47) Columbus Taylor (b. 1994) 
 (48) Cassius Taylor (b. 1996) 
 (49) Eloise Taylor (b. 2003) 
 (50) Estella Taylor (b. 2004) 
 (51) Prince Michael of Kent (b. 1942) 
 (52) Lord Frederick Windsor (b. 1979) 
 (53) Maud Windsor (b. 2013) 
 (54) Isabella Windsor (b. 2016)
 (55) Lady Gabriella Kingston (née Windsor; b. 1981) 
 (56) Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy (b. 1936) 
 (57) James Ogilvy (b. 1964) 
 (58) Alexander Ogilvy (b. 1996) 
 (59) Flora Vesterberg (née Ogilvy; b. 1994) 
 (60) Marina Ogilvy (b. 1966) 
 (61) Christian Mowatt (b. 1993) 
 (62) Zenouska Mowatt (b. 1990)

Notes

Other websites
British line of succession on any date in the past 200 years
Succession at the Official web site of the British Royal Family

References

British monarchy
British