# Query re. British royal succession **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 6, 2012, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/query-re-british-royal-succession/627418 "2012-07-06T14:07:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2012, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/query-re-british-royal-succession/627418/21 "2012-07-07T05:44:08Z")
> [@Bytegeist](#): > > So regents don’t get to offer their assent (or dissent either, presumably) for such bills, but regular monarchs do? Or am I misunderstanding? > > I can see the rationale for that rule, although I’d have thought it would apply to whomever is on the throne. Yes, the monarch can assent to a change in the succession - most recently when Edward VIII assented to the Abdication Act, which forfeited his claim to the throne as well as any issue he might have had. If the monarch could not assent to such a bill, there wouldn’t be a way to change the succession. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2012, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/query-re-british-royal-succession/627418/22 "2012-07-07T05:58:40Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > What if Prince Harry kills the second kid when he turns 18. Does he stay regent? He’d be busy defending himself on a murder charge, which would likely be considered an incapacity leading to a new Regent being appointed. ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2012, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/query-re-british-royal-succession/627418/23 "2012-07-07T07:42:40Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > It’s covered by the Regency Act 1937. If the monarch is under 18 or is declared to be incapacitated in writing by three of the following officials (the monarch’s consort, the Speaker, the Lord Chancellor, the Chief Justice of England and the Master of the Rolls), then the person who is next in the line of succession and over 18 becomes Regent, able to exercise the powers of the Crown. Thank you - question answered! Does the affected person have any right of reply? The Speaker and Lord Chancellor are political appointments, so if you got hooks into them and one other could they conspire to rule an otherwise functioning monarch as incapacitated? ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2012, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/query-re-british-royal-succession/627418/24 "2012-07-07T15:49:20Z")
By the way, here’s a good article on the [Regency Acts](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regency_Acts), just so you don’t think I’m making it all up. (I have read the Acts, but it was a while ago.) ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2012, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/query-re-british-royal-succession/627418/25 "2012-07-07T16:01:09Z")
> [@Wallenstein](#): > > Does the affected person have any right of reply? The Speaker and Lord Chancellor are political appointments, so if you got hooks into them and one other could they conspire to rule an otherwise functioning monarch as incapacitated? Well, they are political appointments, but in the British political tradition, the Speaker is a non-partisan position, and the Lord Chancellor (until recently) was a judicial officer. The other two officers are judges, and I think it should be assumed that the spouse of the monarch will be very protective of the monarch’s rights. I think the reason for choosing them for this purpose is that they are collectively about a non-partisan group of public officials as you could get. The removal of incapacity is done by the same group. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2012, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/query-re-british-royal-succession/627418/26 "2012-07-07T16:28:37Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > He’d be busy defending himself on a murder charge, which would likely be considered an incapacity leading to a new Regent being appointed. The Crown, at the advice of the Regent, fails to prosecute? Worked for Richard III. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2012, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/query-re-british-royal-succession/627418/27 "2012-07-07T16:45:52Z")
There have been many constitutional developments since then, including the principle that the monarch can not get involved in the day-to-day administration of justice. Crown prosecutors take their instructions from the DPP. ---
**Author:** ![lawoot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@lawoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawoot)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2012, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/query-re-british-royal-succession/627418/28 "2012-07-07T17:32:38Z")
> [@Wallenstein](#): > > Churchill had deep depression, and George III was famously out of his gourd, but we are perhaps more likely to assess “ecentricity” as mental illness these days. I doubt that Churchill’s depression had any impact on the succession, as he wasn’t a Royal. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2012, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/query-re-british-royal-succession/627418/29 "2012-07-07T19:04:12Z")
Note that a [major change](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_proposals_to_change_the_rules_of_royal_succession_in_the_Commonwealth_realms) is well underway to change some of the rules of British succession, e.g., male priority, but none of these affect the OP’s question except to note that getting everybody on board for a change in the rules is apparently still doable. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2012, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/query-re-british-royal-succession/627418/30 "2012-07-08T07:04:31Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > There have been many constitutional developments since then, including the principle that the monarch can not get involved in the day-to-day administration of justice. Crown prosecutors take their instructions from the DPP. Does Parliament intend to take ALL the fun out of being regent? I mean, what’s the point if you can’t massacre your enemies? ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2012, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/query-re-british-royal-succession/627418/31 "2012-07-08T08:31:56Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > He’d be busy defending himself on a murder charge, which would likely be considered an incapacity leading to a new Regent being appointed. Unless he grants a Royal Pardon to the murderer (himself). ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2012, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/query-re-british-royal-succession/627418/32 "2012-07-08T18:14:35Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > He’d be busy defending himself on a murder charge, which would likely be considered an incapacity leading to a new Regent being appointed. It would be high treason, not just murder. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2012, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/query-re-british-royal-succession/627418/33 "2012-07-08T23:41:51Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > Something likle this happened in Bavaria. The King was insane; his uncle was Regent. But Uncle Regent became senile, so his son became Regent for, first, the mad king, then on his death, for his own father who was next in line. He finally got the throne for himself, just in time to be thrown out by the Treaty of Versailles. If the king you’re referring to was Ludwig II (“Mad King Ludwig”), it was actually stranger than that. Ludwig II had a younger brother, Otto, who presumably would have become Prince Regent once Ludwig II was declared insane in 1886…only Otto had himself been declared insane some years before. So their uncle Luitpold became regent instead. When Ludwig II died under mysterious circumstances a few days after being declared insane, Otto inherited the throne and officially became King Otto I of Bavaria. But since Otto was never considered fit to rule, Luitpold continued as Prince Regent. Luitpold did not become senile and was never king himself. When Luitpold died in 1912 his son, also named Ludwig, became the new Prince Regent. By this time Otto had technically been king for over 25 years. Soon after Ludwig-son-of-Luitpold became regent the Bavarian parliament changed the law so that the regent could become king if the current king had been incapacitated for long enough. Ludwig-son-of-Luitpold became Ludwig III, the last king of Bavaria. He was not removed by the Treaty of Versailles, but was more or less forced to abdicate during the German Revolution of 1918-1919. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2012, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/query-re-british-royal-succession/627418/34 "2012-07-09T02:34:08Z")
**amia** : Thanks for th correction. The genera concept – one guy regent for multiple disabled kings – was right; I just got details wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2012, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/query-re-british-royal-succession/627418/35 "2012-07-09T04:02:34Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > Does Parliament intend to take ALL the fun out of being regent? I mean, what’s the point if you can’t massacre your enemies? Modern Parliaments are just wet, wobbly killjoys! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2012, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/query-re-british-royal-succession/627418/36 "2012-07-10T07:25:20Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > Unless he grants a Royal Pardon to the murderer (himself). British monarchs no longer go around granting royal pardons to whoever they feel like. They only do things on the advice of the (elected) Government. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2012, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/query-re-british-royal-succession/627418/37 "2012-07-10T07:30:56Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > British monarchs no longer go around granting royal pardons to whoever they feel like. They only do things on the advice of the (elected) Government. There was a (eaked) incident where George VI had to follow his Home Secretary’s advice to sign a death warrant where he as an individual felt that commuting the sentence to life imprisonment would have been more appropriate. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2012, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/query-re-british-royal-succession/627418/38 "2012-07-10T08:40:56Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > British monarchs no longer go around granting royal pardons to whoever they feel like. They only do things on the advice of the (elected) Government. Well, presumably they’re not supposed to kill people either. ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2012, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/query-re-british-royal-succession/627418/39 "2012-07-10T09:36:26Z")
> [@lawoot](#): > > I doubt that Churchill’s depression had any impact on the succession, as he wasn’t a Royal. Well, yes… my point was more that in Britain we seem to tolerate a level of mental instability in our leaders, so that a king with mid- to high-functioning autism might simply be seen as charmingly eccentric even though you wouldn’t necessarily want his finger on the Trident button. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2012, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/query-re-british-royal-succession/627418/40 "2012-07-10T10:26:46Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > Well, presumably they’re not supposed to kill people either. Not in an official capacity, no. 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/query-re-british-royal-succession/627418.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/query-re-british-royal-succession/627418.md?page=3)