Baby prince’s first achievement is to make history for royal gender equality

The third little Cambridge is first child to be born since Act that secured girls’ place in line of succession

THE DUKE and Duchess of Cambridge’s third child won’t know it yet but he made history yesterday by becoming the first prince not to leapfrog an older sister in the direct line of succession.

The baby boy is fifth in line to the throne, one place below his big sister, Princess Charlotte, in the royal pecking order. A change in the law in 2013 brought to an end hundreds of years of sex discrimination within the Royal family, overhauling the rule that, until then, meant male siblings took precedence over females.

The Succession to the Crown Act 2013 replaced male primogeniture with “absolute” primogeniture, abolishing the precedence given to male royals. The new baby is the first prince to be born into the Royal family since the constitutional change.

As a consequence, Princess Charlotte, now aged two, remains fourth in line to ascend to the throne. The law was in place when the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s first child was born in July 2013 – but the arrival of a firstborn son, Prince George, meant that it did not have an immediate impact.

Vernon Bogdanor, professor of government at King’s College London, and author of The Monarchy and The Constitution, said history had none the less been made with the birth of the baby prince.

“This is the first time the change in the law has taken affect,” he said. “In the days of gender equality, it was felt that you could not have a boy succeeding over a girl. It was absolutely the right thing to do to modernise the monarchy. It would have been perverse to continue with gender discrimination.”

Penny Junor, a royal biographer and commentator, said: “It is absolutely fantastic that Princess Charlotte is not being overtaken in the line of succession. It is absolutely right that an outdated law on male primogeniture is over. This has brought the royals kicking and screaming into the 21st century, and makes them interesting again. They need to stay interesting to stay relevant.”

Ms Junor, whose latest biography is the “untold story” of the Duchess of Cornwall, said it was unclear whether the Royal family had supported the law change that benefits Princess Charlotte. “I would certainly think Princess Anne backed it.”

The Princess Royal, now 13th in line, would, under the 2013 Act, have leapfrogged her younger brothers. Her children and grandchildren would also have benefited. However, the law did not change anything for older generations, so the Queen’s second child will remain behind her siblings, the Duke of York and the Earl of Wessex.

Of other younger members of the Royal family, James, Viscount Severn, the younger child of the Earl and Countess of Wessex, entered the line of succession ahead of his sister, Lady Louise

‘It was absolutely the right thing to do to modernise the monarchy’ ‘This has brought the royals kicking and screaming into the 21st century, and makes them interesting again’

Windsor, when he was born in 2007. With yesterday’s birth, 10-year-old Viscount Severn dropped down to 11th in line, while his sister, four years his senior, is now 12th. Prince Harry will be pushed down to sixth, and next comes the Duke of York, who was second in line when he was born, although he is highly unlikely to ever ascend the throne given the number of people ahead of him and their ages.

The Succession to the Crown Act, which replaced the Act of Settlement dating back to 1701, was passed by parliament in 2013 but all countries of which the Queen is head of state needed to pass legislation before it

‘In the days of gender equality, it was felt that you could not have a boy succeeding over a girl’

took effect. In more than 300 years, only twice has a younger male succeeded to the throne ahead of an older sister – George III became king ahead of his sister, Princess Augusta, in 1760 on the death of George II, while Edward VII succeeded to the throne on the death of Queen Victoria, ahead of his sister, Princess Victoria.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s third arrived less than four weeks before the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on May 19 at St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle. The ceremony will be followed by a procession through Windsor and a reception in the castle apartments.