Succession to the Ardwallian throne

**Succession to the Ardwallian throne** is determined by descent, religion, and legitimacy. By law, the crown is inherited by a sovereign's children or by a childless sovereign's nearest collateral line. Ardwallian law limits succession to legitimate descendants of Ertsweg the Wise.

Queen Julianna II is the current sovereign, and her heir apparent is her elder daughter Anna-Beatrice, Princess of Aranje. Next-in-line after her is Princess Véronique of Ardwall, the Queen's second child, followed by the Queen's youngest child Prince Jonatan of Ardwall. Fourth and fifth-in-line are the Queen's younger sister Princess Arabella of Ardwall and her eldest child Countess Eleanore.

Any rule changes to the line of succession must be passed by parliament. The four most senior members of the line of succession who are over the age of 18 are given seats on the Council of State, which acts as the decision-making body and representative of the sovereign when they are out of the country or incapacitated.

## Current line of succession

The official line of succession is updated by the House of Schlessingpfeight, the ruling house of Ardwall. The list below consists of only descendants of Carl-Johannes IV.

* *Carl-Johannes IV* (1902–1985)
	+ Carl-Eric (born 1930)
		- **Julianna II** (born 1958)
			* **(1)** The Princess of Aranje (born 1993)
			* **(2)** Princess Véronique of Ardwall (born 1996)
			* **(3)** Prince Jonatan of Ardwall (born 1998)
		- **(4)** Princess Arabella of Ardwall (born 1968)
			* **(5)** Countess Eleanore of Schlessingpfeight (born 1999)
			* **(6)** Countess Georgeanne of Schlessingpfeight (born 2001)
	+ *Princess Mathilde of Ardwall* (1928–2015)
		- **(7)** Count Hubert of Schlessingpfeight (born 1959)
			* **(8)** Magnus Schlessingpfeight (born 1989)
				+ **(9)** David Schlessingpfeight (born 2018)
			* **(10)** Ellen Schlessingpfeight (born 1991)
				+ **(11)** Robert Mulders (born 2017)
				+ **(12)** Quintijn Mulders (born 2019)
		- **(13)** Count Jan-Pieter of Schlessingpfeight (born 1962)
			* **(14)** Eline Mittermeier, Countess of Mühlwagen (born 1992)
				+ **(15)** Sebastian Mittermeier, Count of Mühlwager (born 2018)
			* **(16)** Kasper Schlessingpfeight (born 1995)
		- **(17)** Countess Annalies of Schlessingpfeight (born 1964)
			* **(18)** Walter Geijtenbeek (born 1990)
			* **(19)** Annemarie Geijtenbeek (born 1992)
			* **(20)** Yasmijn Geijtenbeek (born 1996)

## Current rules

### Marriages

Until the Crown Act of 1945, individuals were not permitted to accede to the throne if they were married to a divorcée or someone who was not a member of the Church of Ardwall; this act undid those two conditions. However, there are still grounds for disqualification in regards to marriage that exist. The first five-in-line for the throne must always seek permission to marry from the sovereign; if they marry without the permission of the sovereign, then they are disqualified from the throne. It is believed that this condition is merely a formality, and that the sovereign always approves of the marriages.

The Crown Act of 2012 made it so that individuals in same-sex domestic partnerships or same-sex marriages were explicitly included in the line of succession; while LGBT individuals or those in a same-sex relationship were never explicitly disqualified from acceding to the throne, this made Ardwall the first country to explicitly allow for LGBT individuals to accede to the throne without controversy. The Crown Act of 2012 also allowed adopted children and children born through either surrogacy, an egg donor, or a sperm donor to be considered legitimate and eligible for the throne, which was seen as a major step towards complete LGBT equality in royal families.

Additionally, only children born to couples in marriages approved by the sovereign are eligible for the throne; children born outside of wedlock, and children born in marriages not approved by the sovereign are declared illegitimate and are not included in the line of succession.

### Religion

Individuals are disqualified from the line of succession if they are not members of the Church of Ardwall. As the sovereign is the leader of the church, all sovereigns must have been baptized within the church, and must be registered members. While there have been calls to remove this condition in recent years, there have been no legitimate efforts to do so. In practice, many sovereigns consider themselves to be secular individuals due to the high level of irreligion in Ardwall, and their association with the church is merely a ceremonial formality.

### Gender

For many years, Ardwall employed a system of male-preference primogeniture; this meant that males would always displace females in the line of succession, regardless of age. Under male-preference primogeniture, the birth of the first male heir would signify that he would inherit the throne, and any elder female siblings would immediate fall behind him in the line of succession.

The first movement to replace male-preference primogeniture with absolute primogeniture was in the late-1950s, following the birth of Julianna II. These plans ultimately did not come to fruition, as the proposal was heavily opposed by center-right and right-wing political parties. A second debate arose in the mid-1990s, after the birth of Anna-Beatrice, Princess of Aranje. Not wanting Anna-Beatrice to be displaced in the line of succession by the upcoming birth of Julianna II's second child, absolute primogeniture was adopted in the Crown Act of 1995; however, it was not applied retroactively, meaning it would only apply to children born after 1995.