The line of succession
A short briefing on the line of succession to the throne, including how changes are made.
On 23 February 2026 the government said it was “not ruling out action” in respect of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s place in the line of succession and would “consider whether any further steps are required in due course”.
What is the line of succession?The line of succession is the sequence of members of the royal family who are eligible to succeed to the throne as king or queen of the United Kingdom and of 14 other Commonwealth Realms (for example, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) where the monarch is also head of state.
The line of succession on the Royal Family’s website lists 25 people, all descendants of Queen Elizabeth II.
Who can succeed to the throne?Succession to the throne is regulated not only through descent, but also by legislation.
Following the Glorious Revolution of 1688 – when James VII/II fled the realm and William of Orange and Mary were invited to assume the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland – it became firmly established that succession to the throne could be regulated by Parliament (early statutes had also made provision for succession since the 14th century).
The Bill of Rights 1688 (an act of the English Parliament) and the Claim of Right Act 1689 (an act of the Old Scottish Parliament) provided that a Roman Catholic could not succeed to the thrones of England and Scotland, respectively, while the Act of Settlement 1700 (another act of the English Parliament) provided that only Protestant descendants of Princess Sophia – the Electress of Hanover and granddaughter of James VI/I – were eligible to succeed. Since the unions of Scotland and England in 1707, and of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801, these laws have applied throughout what is now the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
The Prince of Wales (Prince William) is therefore first in the present line of succession. His three children are next: Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis. Fifth in line is the Duke of Sussex (Prince Harry), followed by his children Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet. Eighth in the line of succession is Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor (formerly Prince Andrew).
Section 3 of the Succession to the Crown Act 2013 provides that the first six in the line of succession require the monarch’s consent before they can marry. Without such consent, they and their children are disqualified from succession. No one has been disqualified on this basis.
Children of those in the line of succession born out of wedlock or who are adopted cannot succeed to the throne.
Can someone be removed from the line of succession?Yes.
A member of the royal family can be removed from (or indeed restored to) the line of succession via legislation.
The Duke of Windsor (the former King Edward VIII) and his potential descendants were removed by section 1(2) of His Majesty’s Declaration of Abdication Act 1936. This provided that:
His Majesty, His issue, if any, and the descendants of that issue, shall not after His Majesty’s abdication have any right, title or interest in or to the succession to the Throne.
The children of a person removed from the line of succession will only be affected if legislation so provides (as in 1936). As the then Advocate-General for Scotland, Lord Wallace of Tankerness, stated in 2013: “Changes to the law on succession to the Crown can be effected without any change to the legitimate expectations of those in the line of succession.”
Section 2 of the Succession to the Crown Act 2013, meanwhile, restored to the line of succession individuals previously excluded “as a result of marrying a person of the Roman Catholic faith”.
Agreement among Commonwealth RealmsIn a 2011 report the House of Commons Political and Constitutional Reform Committee observed that changing the rules of succession was “technically and logistically complicated”.
This is because the Crown is divisible, which means it is theoretically possible for each Commonwealth Realm to have its own line of succession.
Under a convention enshrined in the preamble to the Statute of Westminster 1931, however, any change to the line of succession requires the concurrence of every other Commonwealth Realm. The preamble states that:
it would be in accord with the established constitutional position of all the members of the Commonwealth in relation to one another that any alteration in the law touching the Succession to the Throne or the Royal Style and Titles shall hereafter require the assent as well of the Parliaments of all the Dominions as of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
Although preambles do not form part of an act, this convention has been treated as binding twice during the last century.
In 1936, the then “Dominion” of Canada “requested and consented” to enactment of UK legislation giving legal effect to King Edward VIII's abdication (and removal from the line of succession) under section 4 of the Statute of Westminster 1931, while Australia, New Zealand and South Africa “assented” to its application in those Dominions. The Irish Free State legislated separately (Executive Authority (External Relations) Act, 1936), while South Africa and Canada passed acts the following year.
In 2011, the prime ministers of the then 16 Commonwealth Realms (Barbados became a republic in 2021) agreed to amend the law of succession by ending the system of male preference primogeniture (under which a younger son came before an elder daughter in the line of succession) and repealing the provision that anyone who married a Catholic became ineligible to succeed.
Following the 2011 Perth Agreement, which was adopted at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Perth, Western Australia, the New Zealand government led a working group on the preparation and implementation of the necessary legislation.
The UK Succession to the Crown Act 2013 received Royal Assent on 25 April 2013. Australia (with the concurrence of its States), New Zealand, Canada, Saint Kitts and Nevis and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines all passed their own legislation, while the governments of the remaining realms consented to the enactment of the UK act. The changes took effect on 26 March 2015 and applied to members of the royal family born after 28 October 2011.
Agreement on changes to the line of succession do not necessarily have to take place at CHOGM, as in 2011. The next CHOGM will take place from 1-4 November 2026 in St John’s, Antigua and Barbuda.
In a letter to Sir Keir Starmer published on 23 February 2026, Anthony Albanese, the Prime Minister of Australia, wrote that:
In light of recent events concerning Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, I am writing to confirm that my Government would agree to any proposal to remove him from the line of royal succession. I agree with His Majesty that the law must now take its full course and there must be a full, fair and proper investigation. These are grave allegations and Australians take them seriously.
A spokesperson for New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon also said: “If the UK Government proposes to remove Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor from the order of succession, New Zealand would support it.”
On 6 March 2026, the Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney told reporters in Tokyo that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor's “deplorable” actions necessitated his “removal from the line of succession”.
The Australian constitutional scholar Anne Twomey has warned that removing Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor from the line of succession “would most likely be a time-consuming process involving many parliaments passing legislation”.
Regency and Counsellors of StateAny change to the line of succession would also impact those members of the royal family eligible to serve as Counsellors of State under section 6 of the Regency Act 1937. Counsellors perform some of the monarch’s legal functions if the sovereign is out of the country (for example, on a state visit) or temporarily incapacitated.
The first four individuals in the line of succession who are over 21 (or 18 in the case of the heir apparent), and the sovereign’s consort (Queen Camilla), may be appointed Counsellors. This means that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor is currently eligible to serve as a Counsellor of State, although he has not done so since his withdrawal from active royal duties in 2019.
The Princess Royal (Princess Anne) and the Duke of Edinburgh (Prince Edward) were added as eligible Counsellors by the Counsellors of State Act 2022.
If a sovereign succeeds to the throne before reaching the age of 18, then the first person in the line of succession who is over the age of 21 (18 in the case of the heir apparent) and is domiciled in the UK becomes Regent and exercises most royal functions.
Proposed government actionOn 23 February 2026, Darren Jones, the Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister, told the Commons he understood:
that there has been a high level of public interest in the news of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s arrest last Thursday, and in what may follow. The Government are clear that we are not ruling out action in respect of the line of succession at this stage, and we will consider whether any further steps are required in due course. It is vital, however, that we first allow the police to carry out their investigations.
On 21 February 2026, The Times reported that the Prime Minister was “willing to introduce legislation to strip Andrew of his right to succeed”.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Any Questions, the defence minister Luke Pollard said the government had “absolutely” been working with Buckingham Palace to prevent Mountbatten-Windsor from “potentially being a heartbeat away from the throne”. Mr Pollard added that it was something he hoped would “enjoy cross party support”.
Sir Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat leader, said it would be “intolerable for Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor to succeed to the Crown”, something he believed was “not as remote as some people think”. Stephen Flynn, the SNP’s Westminster leader, also indicated support for legislation.
The removal of most of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s titles and honours in October 2025 (he remains the Duke of York, although that title has been removed from the Roll of the Peerage) prompted calls by some MPs for his removal from the line of succession, but at that point the government said it had no plans to legislate. In early February 2026, Housing Secretary Steve Reed suggested removal was unnecessary as there was not any “realistic prospect” of Mountbatten-Windsor “becoming King”.
During a Liberal Democrat Opposition Day debate on Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor which took place on 24 February 2026, Chris Bryant, the Minister for Trade, said that on the “Act of succession”:
we are working at pace on this, and we intend to bring forward legislation when we can. I cannot commit to a particular date on that, but I note that Julie Andrews, in “The Sound of Music”, sang,
“I have confidence that spring will come again”,
so I have confidence that the Act of succession will come around at pace.
Further reading