With the birth of her baby brother, Princess Charlotte has made history
While the world jubilantly celebrated the newest addition to the royal brood, Princess Charlotte quietly made history.
She's just become the first female royal not to be usurped after the birth of a younger brother.
Kensington Palace announced the birth of a baby boy shortly after 1pm BST on Monday. But, for the first time in history, the birth of this male heir will not affect an older female heir's position in line to the throne.
Charlotte's place in the line of succession will remain the same following the birth of a younger male sibling, and that's all thanks to a law that was passed in 2013, but took effect in 2015 because the countries where the Queen is head of state had to pass their own legislation.
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Princess Charlotte is currently forth in line to the throne, and the new royal baby—whose name is yet to be announced—is fifth in line.
The Succession to the Crown Act 2013—which was passed in the UK shortly before Prince George's birth—removed "male bias" from the rules of royal succession. The new law meant that Charlotte would position in the line of succession would not be leapfrogged by any future younger brothers.
The rules of male primogeniture prior to the law meant that male heirs "took precedence" over female heirs—even first-born royal girls.
Thank goodness for forward planning!
Topics Celebrities
Rachel Thompson is the Features Editor at Mashable. Rachel's second non-fiction book The Love Fix: Reclaiming Intimacy in a Disconnected World is out now, published by Penguin Random House in Jan. 2025. The Love Fix explores why dating feels so hard right now, why we experience difficult emotions in the realm of love, and how we can change our dating culture for the better.
A leading sex and dating writer in the UK, Rachel has written for GQ, The Guardian, The Sunday Times Style, The Telegraph, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Stylist, ELLE, The i Paper, Refinery29, and many more.
Rachel's first book Rough: How Violence Has Found Its Way Into the Bedroom And What We Can Do About It, a non-fiction investigation into sexual violence was published by Penguin Random House in 2021.
