Everyone with a WiFi connection knows that the Duchess of Cambridge (a.k.a. the former Kate Middleton) had her baby yesterday. The birth of her new son also ensured that her daughter Charlotte has made history.
How? Princess Charlotte is the first princess in the Royal Family’s history not to lose her place in the line of succession to a younger brother.
In 2013, the Succession to the Crown Act was introduced, and allowed girl members of the Royal Family to keep their place in the line of succession even if a younger male member of the family was born. The act was implemented in 2015, and Princess Charlotte is the first royal girl to benefit from it.
Before the Act, female members of the family were frequently bumped down the line of succession in favor of their male brothers, even if the boys were younger. This started with Queen Victoria, whose second child, a boy, replaced her first child, a daughter, in the line of succession. Primogeniture (the official term for it) was very common up until…yesterday.
This is also exciting for another reason. As “The Lily” put it:
The updated law of succession, however, means that a future princess could one day be born to be queen.