# Could Queen Elizabeth Decide to Bypass Prince Charles as her Successor? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 11, 2016, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-queen-elizabeth-decide-to-bypass-prince-charles-as-her-successor/768288 "2016-10-11T21:49:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2016, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-queen-elizabeth-decide-to-bypass-prince-charles-as-her-successor/768288/121 "2016-10-15T18:19:18Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > And Parliament could indeed change the succession - there was apparently some talk in 1936 that there might be a skip in the succession, to the younger, but more glamorous and media-adapted, Duke of Kent. But there would be a presumption of consensus amongst the great and the good (Privy Council, Archbishop and party leaders) before anything got near formal legislation. Kent as King, that would have been interesting! Of course, tabloids worked very differently then, but still word got out. Makes Charles and Di’s difficulties almost stodgy. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2016, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-queen-elizabeth-decide-to-bypass-prince-charles-as-her-successor/768288/122 "2016-10-16T05:45:26Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Why would the PM do that? There’s no way such a change could be made quietly. Charles will be King by law, and to change the law would require an Act of the British Parliament as well as corresponding steps in the Commonwealth realms. > > Why would a Prime Minister trigger that sort of political debate? The point is that the Prime Minister - who is basically the person in charge of the UK, despite the reigning monarch being the one who has their likeness on all the money and postage stamps - could suggest informally, during a private meeting or something similar, that perhaps Charles might like to consider the many benefits and advantages that not being King for too long might offer. No-one would even know the conversation had happened. It’s not like the PM would be going on the Beeb and saying “I had lunch with Charles the other day and told him it was in everyone’s best interests to say “Yeah, Nah” to the whole King thing.” Charles could potentially, for the purposes of this hypothetical, be King for a while - a few years, perhaps - then decide to abdicate for whatever reasons he felt most appropriate (or at least most public to state publically). Or, he could equally tell the PM where to stick his quiet suggestion and be King for as long as he jolly well liked, which ideally would be the rest of his hopefully long and productive life, thankyouverymuch. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2016, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-queen-elizabeth-decide-to-bypass-prince-charles-as-her-successor/768288/123 "2016-10-16T07:57:20Z")
> [@Nawth\_Chucka](#): > > Kent as King, that would have been interesting! Of course, tabloids worked very differently then, but still word got out. That was probably why the idea didn’t go very far. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2016, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-queen-elizabeth-decide-to-bypass-prince-charles-as-her-successor/768288/124 "2016-10-16T09:26:37Z")
> [@Nawth\_Chucka](#): > > Kent as King, that would have been interesting! Of course, tabloids worked very differently then, but still word got out. Makes Charles and Di’s difficulties almost stodgy. In case any of you are wondering why Kent would not have been suitable. Here is a partial quote from Wikipedia: > [@](#): > > Both before and after his marriage, Prince George had a string of affairs with both men and women, from socialites to Hollywood celebrities.~~ > > The Duke of Kent is rumoured to have been addicted to drugs, especially morphine and cocaine, a rumour which reputedly originated with his friendship with Kiki Preston, whom he first met in the mid-1920s. Reportedly, Prince George shared Kiki in a ménage à trois with Jorge Ferrara, the bisexual son of the Argentinian ambassador to Britain. Other alleged sexual liaisons were with the art historian and Soviet spy Anthony Blunt and maharani of Cooch Behar, Indira Raje ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2016, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-queen-elizabeth-decide-to-bypass-prince-charles-as-her-successor/768288/125 "2016-10-16T11:37:26Z")
> [@](#): > > Other alleged sexual liaisons were with the art historian and Soviet spy Anthony Blunt I find it hard to believe, given their relative ages and circumstances, the story about Blunt (their paths would hardly have been likely to cross), but I seem to recall reports about Noel Coward’s diaries that suggest they had a thing going in the late 20s. ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-queen-elizabeth-decide-to-bypass-prince-charles-as-her-successor/768288/126 "2016-10-17T00:10:50Z")
My opinion (such as it is) is that even if Charles was minded to step aside in favour of William, he would not do so until William’s children were no longer teenagers. For all his flaws, I think Charles has been free enough to raise a family - I suspect he’d like his sons to do the same without the responsibility of the throne weighing on them. my 2d worth 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-queen-elizabeth-decide-to-bypass-prince-charles-as-her-successor/768288.md?page=6)