Peter Hitchens was born in the Crown Colony of Malta, where his father, a career naval officer, was stationed as part of the then Mediterranean Fleet of the Royal Navy. Hitchens originally hoped to become a naval officer himself, but an eye defect prevented him from doing so. He was educated at the Leys School and the Oxford College of Further Education before being accepted at the University of York, where he studied Philosophy and Politics and was a member of Alcuin College, graduating in 1973. He later commented that he "must have been a severe disappointment" to his parents after making sure he "would never get into Oxbridge" by sabotaging his own education, through actions which included being arrested breaking into a government fall-out shelter in Cambridge.

Hitchens opposed the Kosovo and 2003 Iraq War, on the grounds that neither was in the interests of either Britain or the United States, and opposes the British military presence in Afghanistan, arguing that it has no achievable aim. He believes in upholding the principle of Westphalian sovereignty, which he described as that "you didn't interfere in foreign countries because you didn't like the way they were governed". He urges better relations between the West and Russia, viewing conflict as unnecessary, and, while condemning the old Soviet Union as an "evil empire" and Vladimir Putin as corrupt, he states his "strong affection for post-communist Russia." Also, he endorsed the 2014 Crimea referendum. On Europe, Hitchens argues that the United Kingdom should negotiate an amicable departure from the European Union, whose laws and traditions he regards as incompatible with the laws and liberties of Britain, and with the national independence of the United Kingdom as a whole. Likewise, he opposes the Human Rights Act (which incorporates the European Convention on Human Rights into UK law) and the European Court of Human Rights. Hitchens has described London as "the fifth state in the United Kingdom" and as having "an explicitly republican form of government." He views the Good Friday Agreement as a "surrender" of the British state to the IRA, and its referendum as "manifestly unfair", arguing that the Protestant community was "browbeaten" into voting for it, and that the British government was put "under huge duress, both from IRA violence and from the White House." He opposes Scottish independence, because of his affection for Scotland and because he believes that independence within the EU would not be independence at all, but he also said in 2014 that, having itself ceded power to the EU, the British government cannot argue against Scottish independence. However, he supports devolution for Scotland, having changed his mind, but he is ambivalent about devolution for Wales, and still "completely against" it for Northern Ireland, while predicting that the province will eventually be absorbed as a "special autonomous zone" of the Republic of Ireland. Hitchens has stated his "love" for the United States and his support for the US's being the successor to Britain as the world's leading power, but he has denounced "sentimental" attitudes towards the alleged "Special Relationship", arguing that the US rightly follows its own self-interest to the detriment of Britain. Hitchens supports Israel and denies the notion of occupied Palestinian territory, viewing the British exit from Mandatory Palestine as having left a legal vacuum. He also praises Israel's "European" culture, which he says makes Israel "the permanent ally, in the Middle East, of the world's lawful and free countries", and which he suspects is the main reason for the perceived hostility of the Arab governments. However, he condemns past Jewish terrorism and some Israeli military actions. CANNOTANSWERAnswer this question using a quote from the following article:

WHEN DID HE BECOME THE SUCCESSOR TO BRITAIN?

CANNOTANSWER