Is this just an evil rumor or did I hear correctly that Liz has opted to bypass her boy and put the reins of The Empire into the William’s capable hands upon her passing? My Googles aren’t seeing anything about it, but maybe it’s just not big news.
At 25, William’s not really a “kid” but he still seems a bit young. If this turns out to be complete BS, would he still be the guy with the big hat if Charles bites it before his mum?
I suppose 25 is old enough to shoulder the responsibility of waving from vehicles.
I don’t see why it would be up to the queen anyway. The succession order is quite stable, is it not?
Well…she could always have him beheaded.
It is indeed a matter of law, and not the personal whim of the incumbent monarch. If you’re wanting to bypass Chuck, the person to see is Gordon Brown, not Queenie.
Indeed. Even if Charles wanted to remove himself from the line of succession, or to abdicate once King, he’d have to talk to Parliament, as well as the parliaments of the Commonwealth Realms. Edward VIII did too, last time this came up, and the result was His Majesty’s Declaration of Abdication Act 1936.
Dude, that was funny. Thanks for giving me my morning laugh!
That’s hardly all he’d have to do. He’d also have to wear funny hats and carry a purse.
Suppose Canada wanted to be ornery and block such an abdication. Would that carry any weight?
Canada has no voice in Parliament, does it? It is its own sovereign nation, which chooses as a matter of convenience and custom to have the ruling British monarch as its head of state.
It could change this at any time. I’m sure you remember that we made such a change ourselves some time ago.
At that point, something Weird would happen. Fear of Weird things happening is generally, in Westminster-system parliaments, what prevents them from happening and what induces governments to negotiate so as to prevent them from happening. My guess is that failure to agree on this point would simply result in the end of the Canadian monarchy.
The last go-round, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand were not especially happy about the situation, and South Africa was in disbelief as they’d never even heard of Mrs. Simpson, but they went along with it anyway.
What does Marge have to do with this?
Yes, at this point, it would be apparent that all the Crowns formerly in personal union under Elizabeth II would be able to go their separate ways, having different successions and everything. If Canada wanted Charles as king, that would be possible, even if the UK wanted no such thing.
Faced with the possibility of actually paying for their own monarchy, Canada would probably either a) go along with what the Brits were doing, so the new monarch would have somewhere else to stay, or b) abolish the whole thing.
Whether that abolishement would simply result in the Governor General becoming the true Head of State, or what, I can’t say.
The Monarchy of Canada is completely separate from the Monarchy of the United Kingdom. There’s no barrier to having a different monarch on each throne; it just hasn’t happened because the line of succession has been steady for the past 150 years.
The Governor-General wouldn’t become the head of state, unless it was determined by Parliament (and passed by every single provinceas per the CCRF) that the monarch would now be appointed by Parliament.
Some monarchs can name their successors (the Romanovs could, at least for a while), but Queen Elizabeth is not one of those who can.
Yes. There’s ample precedent for a British monarch to be succeeded by their grandchild- Edward III was succeeded by his grandson Richard II, and George II was succeeded by his grandson George III, for just the ones I can think of off the top of my head.
The concepts of (1) Marge as Duchess of Windsor and (2) Bart as Heir Apparent have just passed my official bogglement threshold. (Lisa as Princess Royal makes sense; she’s been understudying Anne for years! ;))
That’s why there’s an order of succession. Charles is 1, William 2, Henry 3, then Andrew, Charles’ brother in 4, followed by his daughters, then Edward and his daughter, then Anne and her kids (except that Anne’s son is marrying a Catholic Canadian, oh dear).
If one person on that list is bumped off, everybody moves up one spot.
Also note that despite the fact that Anne is older than Andrew and Edward, she comes later in the succession, as she is only allowed to succeed if there is no direct male offspring of the Queen.
Succession to the British throne - Wikipedia gives full detail.
There is one way for Charles to remove himself from the line of succession without getting approval from Parliament. Under the Act of Settlement (which is the law in all Commonwealth Realms) if he marries or becomes a Roman Catholic (aka a “Papist”) he looses all rights to the throne forever. So he’d either neet to convert himself or divorce Camilla and marry a Catholic woman.
Queen Elizabeth is 81 years old now. Her mother, the Queen Mum, lived to 102. Her great great grandmother, Queen Victoria, reigned for 63 years, longer than any other British monarch. I think Old Liz fully intends to outlive her son. Her successor would then be Prince William, thus sparing the British public the embarrassment of having a Queen Camilla.