Although the Royal Family had been attempting to suppress any worries ever since, King Charles’ cancer diagnosis at the top of the year has invariably reopened conversations surrounding the line of succession of the British monarchy much sooner than we expected.
Queen Elizabeth II sat on the throne for a record-breaking total of 70 years, while Charles hasn’t even been king for a full two years at the time of writing. Of course, with the Windsors’ habit of long lifespans and having the top-most medical care that being among the richest people in the world brings, we don’t necessarily have to worry about who’s going to take over from Charles just yet. Still, it remains something that people are thinking about.
You might be aware that Prince William, Charles’ eldest son, is his chosen heir and next in line to the throne, but where does Charles’ second son, Prince Harry, fall in the pecking order?
What is Prince Harry’s place in the line of succession?
Prince Harry is officially the fifth in line to ascend to the British throne should something happen to King Charles. The reason he is so far behind his brother is because William’s children immediately widened the gap between he and Harry once they were born. So second in line is Prince George, third is Princess Charlotte and fourth is Prince Louis.
As that ends William and Kate’s brood, the line of succession then reverts to Harry and his family, meaning that Harry and Meghan Markle’s oldest, Archie, is sixth in line. Technically, Princess Lilibet, Archie’s younger sister, is then seventh in line. However, the top six are really the only ones that count these days.
According to the Perth Agreement, a Commonwealth-wide change to the rules of succession, only the first six in line for the throne must ask the ruling monarch for permission to marry, with themselves and their progeny stricken from the queue to the crown if they go ahead and get wed without consent. So, depending on how long Charles lives for, Lilibet may be able to marry who she wants or else will have to ask her uncle William for permission one day.
As Harry is formally a U.S. resident now, he’s not a fully-fledged counselor of state anymore — an appointed deputy of the crown who can step in when the monarch is unavailable — but he is still part of the line of succession. So if, God forbid, something did happen to William, Kate, and their children, he would jump up to first in line, with his children in second and third.