Archaic rules that mean Lady Louise misses out
ANTIQUATED succession laws mean Edward’s daughter was the only member of his family not to receive a new title yesterday.
While her father, mother and younger brother were ‘promoted’, the 19-year-old student at St Andrews University remains Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor. This is partly because the styling of the daughter of an earl is the same as that of a duke.
But she has also missed out on being passed Edward’s previous title, the Earl of Wessex, despite being the eldest child. This is due to primogeniture – the feudal right of succession by the eldest son – meaning the title went to her younger brother, James, Viscount Severn.
James will also be able to hand his new title to future offspring, male or female. This is because the Succession to the Crown Act of 2013 ended the system of male primogeniture for those born after October 28, 2011.
Charlotte Carew Pole, who is campaigning through the organisation Daughters’ Rights to overturn the status quo, said the ‘archaic’ situation was an ‘inexplicable inequality’.