Baby Sussex is about to make their way into the Royal Family, but what is the chance that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle‘s first child will one day be dubbed King or Queen?
Excitement surrounding the upcoming arrival of the new royal baby is building as the world is now just weeks, or maybe even days, away from welcoming a new little prince or princess, and while royal fans are already imagining what’s in store in baby Sussex’s life, it is rather unlikely that he or she will ever don a crown and sit on the throne.
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The sad news is largely due to the fact that the new royal will sit seventh in line to the British Throne, a placeholder that will likely continue drop as younger members of the royal family – Prince George (third in line), Princess Charlotte (fourth), and Prince Louis (fifth) – grow into adults and begin their own families.
“A member of the royal family who is seventh in line to the throne could not possibly be King or Queen especially as George, Charlotte and Louis are likely to have families,” royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams told Express.
The current line of succession is as follows:
1. Prince Charles, the Queen’s eldest child;
2. Prince William, Charles’ first child;
3. Prince George, William’s first child;
4. Princess Charlotte, William’s second child;
5. Prince Louis, William’s third child;
6. Prince Harry, Charles’ second child;
7. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s baby
Prior to the 2013 passing of the Succession of the Crown Act, which made “succession to the Crown not depend on gender,” baby Sussex’s position, should they be a little prince, in the line of succession would have been sixth. The 2015 birth of Princess Charlotte pushed all others in the line of succession down a spot.
So far, royal children seventh in line to the throne have never succeeded to the British throne since the 1701 Act of Settlement.
That doesn’t mean that the Sussex’s first-born child won’t make his or her mark on the Royal Family or on history. The little prince or princess to be is already set up to be a royal first thanks to their mother’s American citizenship.
Born to a British citizen, their father Prince Harry, and an American citizen (Markle was born in California in 1981 and has not yet revoked her American citizenship), baby Sussex will be the first member of the Royal Family to hold dual citizenship in the United Kingdom and United States.
