Under current law, the British Line of Succession prefers male heirs. So should Prince William have a daughter for a firstborn, she will have to step down in the line in favor of any younger brother. Also, William, the future head of the Church of England, cannot marry a Roman Catholic.
But things may change. Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the law was outdated and in need of an overhaul. He plans to raise the issue at the summit of Commonwealth Heads of Government this weekend. There has been talk about reforming this succession law for over a year. There are fears that a constitutional crisis could be sparkled if William’s first child would be a girl — worse if he ends up only having a daughter, like Crown Prince Naruhito of Japan.
Should the reform be passed, William’s firstborn — male or female — would automatically become the future monarch. He will also be allowed to marry a Roman Catholic, although the monarch himself should remain Protestant.
Article: Daily Mail
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Spyridon Braoudakis
#1 by Pam Edwards on February 5, 2011 - 10:57 am
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There is no crisis. If there are daughters but no sons from the marriage of William and Kate the next monarch (if we haven’t decided on a Republic by then) will be a Queen. There is no reason not to have a queen and, in fact, all our most successful monarchs seem to have been queens. The only king anyone knows anything much about is Henry VIII and that’s because he had 6 queens. It is justice to remove the male preference that decides the inheritance but not a crisis if there are daughters anyway. Who said it was a crisis?