Bea slips down royal line ... and can now marry who she likes
THE Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s new arrival may have bumped her down the royal pecking order, but Princess Beatrice will find this has some advantages.
Now seventh in l i ne to the throne, Prince Andrew’s elder daughter no longer needs to ask the Queen’s permission to marry.
The Succession to the Crown Act requires only the first six in line to the throne to obtain the sovereign’s consent.
And the new princess means Beatrice – who is planning a move to New York with her boyfriend Dave Clark – will be out of the much-scrutinised inner circle.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s daughter may be fourth in line to the throne, but few are likely to realise that until just two years ago she would not have been entitled to call herself a princess.
A decree made by George V in 1917 restricted the HRH title to the children of the sovereign, the children of the sovereign’s sons and the eldest son of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales.
Hence Prince Andrew’s daughters Beatrice, 26, and Eugenie, 25, are princesses – but Zara Phillips, Princess Anne’s daughter, is not, and her brother Peter is not a prince. Prince Edward’s children, Louise and James, were entitled to use the HRH title, but he and his wife Sophie declined it as they wanted the youngsters to have a more ‘normal life’.
Their daughter, 11, instead uses the courtesy title of the daughter of an Earl and is known as Lady Louise, while her seven-year-old brother is James, Viscount Sev- ern. Under the old rules, only Prince William’s eldest son would have been able to use HRH.
But shortly before the birth of Prince George in 2013, the Queen issued what are known as Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the Realm – an ancient type of legal order – to allow all children of the Prince of Wales’s eldest son to use the title. This means William and Kate’s as yet unnamed daughter will be HRH Princess (Forename) of Cambridge.
Her arrival has bumped Prince Harry down to fifth in line to the throne, while the Duke of York is now sixth.
‘Have a more normal life’