The line of succession to the British throne is the order in which members of the royal family would come to the throne if the reigning king or queen died.
At present the first in line is William, Prince of Wales, and then Prince William's eldest child, Prince George of Wales.
Traditionally, males came before females in the line of succession. However, the law changed on 26 March 2015, so at present, for people born after 28 October 2011 the succession is decided only by age: older children come before younger children. This system of inheritance is called absolute primogeniture, as opposed to male-preference primogeniture. When someone who is in line to the throne has a child, that child comes after them and their older children, but before anyone else in the line of succession.
Excluded from the line of succession are Catholics and illegitimate children.
Line of succession
No official, complete version of the line of succession is maintained. The exact number, in more remote collateral lines, of the people who would be eligible is uncertain. In 2001, American genealogist William Addams Reitwiesner compiled a list of 4,973 living descendants of the Electress Sophia in order of succession without omitting Roman Catholics. When updated in January 2011, the list included 5,753.
The annotated list below covers the first part of this line of succession, being limited to descendants of the sons of King George V, King Charles III's great-grandfather. The order of the first twenty-three numbered in the list, all descendants of Queen Elizabeth II, is given on the official website of the British monarchy; other list numbers and exclusions are explained by annotations and footnotes below. People named in italics are unnumbered either because they are deceased or because sources report them to be excluded from the succession.
King George V (1865–1936) King Edward VIII (1894–1972) King George VI (1895–1952) Queen Elizabeth II (1926–2022) King Charles III (b. 1948) (1) William, Prince of Wales (b. 1982) (2) Prince George of Wales (b. 2013) (3) Princess Charlotte of Wales (b. 2015) (4) Prince Louis of Wales (b. 2018) (5) Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex (b. 1984) (6) Prince Archie of Sussex (b. 2019) (7) Princess Lilibet of Sussex (b. 2021) (8) Prince Andrew, Duke of York (b. 1960) (9) Princess Beatrice (b. 1988) (10) Sienna Mapelli Mozzi (b. 2021) (11) Princess Eugenie (b. 1990) (12) August Brooksbank (b. 2021) (13) Ernest Brooksbank (b. 2023) (14) Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh (b. 1964) (15) James Mountbatten-Windsor, Earl of Wessex (b. 2007) (16) Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor (b. 2003) (17) Anne, Princess Royal (b. 1950) (18) Peter Phillips (b. 1977) (19) Savannah Phillips (b. 2010) (20) Isla Phillips (b. 2012) (21) Zara Tindall (née Phillips; b. 1981) (22) Mia Tindall (b. 2014) (23) Lena Tindall (b. 2018) (24) Lucas Tindall (b. 2021) Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon (1930–2002) (25) David Armstrong-Jones, 2nd Earl of Snowdon (b. 1961) (26) Charles Armstrong-Jones, Viscount Linley (b. 1999) (27) Lady Margarita Armstrong-Jones (b. 2002) (28) Lady Sarah Chatto (née Armstrong-Jones; b. 1964) (29) Samuel Chatto (b. 1996) (30) Arthur Chatto (b. 1999) Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester (1900–1974) (31) Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester (b. 1944) (32) Alexander Windsor, Earl of Ulster (b. 1974) (33) Xan Windsor, Lord Culloden (b. 2007) (34) Lady Cosima Windsor (b. 2010) (35) Lady Davina Windsor (b. 1977) (36) Senna Lewis (b. 2010) (37) Tāne Lewis (b. 2012) (38) Lady Rose Gilman (née Windsor; b. 1980) (39) Lyla Gilman (b. 2010) (40) Rufus Gilman (b. 2012) Prince George, Duke of Kent (1902–1942) (41) Prince Edward, Duke of Kent (b. 1935) (42) George Windsor, Earl of St Andrews (b. 1962) Edward Windsor, Lord Downpatrick (b. 1988) Lady Marina Windsor (b. 1992) (43) Lady Amelia Windsor (b. 1995) Lord Nicholas Windsor (b. 1970) (44) Albert Windsor (b. 2007) (45) Leopold Windsor (b. 2009) (46) Louis Windsor (b. 2014) (47) Lady Helen Taylor (née Windsor; b. 1964) (48) Columbus Taylor (b. 1994) (49) Cassius Taylor (b. 1996) (50) Eloise Taylor (b. 2003) (51) Estella Taylor (b. 2004) (52) Prince Michael of Kent (b. 1942) (53) Lord Frederick Windsor (b. 1979) (54) Maud Windsor (b. 2013) (55) Isabella Windsor (b. 2016) (56) Lady Gabriella Kingston (née Windsor; b. 1981) (57) Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy (b. 1936) (58) James Ogilvy (b. 1964) (59) Alexander Ogilvy (b. 1996) (60) Flora Vesterberg (née Ogilvy; b. 1994) (61) Marina Ogilvy (b. 1966) (62) Christian Mowatt (b. 1993) (63) Zenouska Mowatt (b. 1990)