Prince Louis Is Breaking Royal Tradition Due to Queen Elizabeth’s Line-of-Succession Rule Change

One thing we know about the royal family is that they are sticklers for rules. However, as times are changing, it seems the family is slowly but surely shedding some of their more stringent codes of conduct and embracing the new age way of doing things. One particular shift has Prince Louis straying from family tradition.

According to Cambridge News, the 4-year-old prince will be the first male royal who doesn’t skip his sister, Princess Charlotte, in the line of succession simply because he’s a boy. (Perhaps his silly behavior at Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee was a subtle form of retaliation.)

An old royal rule called the Act of Settlement of 1701 stated that boys born into a royal family could jump ahead of their sisters in the queue to the throne because, you know, sexism. This decree directly impacted Queen Elizabeth II’s second-born, her only daughter, Princess Anne. At the time of her birth, Anne was third in line for the throne, after her mother and older brother Prince Charles. When Anne’s brothers Prince Andrew and Prince Edward were born, however, she was pushed down to fifth in line to the throne. So not cool.

But, thankfully, Princess Anne will be the last royal gal to be robbed of her position in the line. Her Majesty the queen chucked the antiquated rule back in April 2013 and replaced it with the Succession to the Crown Act, which says birth order takes precedence. This means if Prince George were to abdicate the throne for one reason or another (and had no children), Princess Charlotte (and her potential children) precede Prince Louis.

It’s also worth noting that the queen amended the Act of Settlement before Prince George was born in July 2013, so even if he was a girl, he’d still be third in line after his grandfather, Prince Charles, and dad, Prince William.

Though he’s making history in this instance, Prince Louis still has to adhere to other royal rules, including not taking selfies (with members of the public at least), not playing Monopoly and not eating garlic. Hey, you win some, you lose some, right?

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