Post date: Jul 04, 2013 5:53:20 PM
If the Duke and Duchess' royal baby is a girl she will become third in line to the British throne, regardless of whether she has a later born brother after royal succession laws were changed. What will the future monarchy look like decades from now when this baby becomes king or queen?
LONDON, ENGLAND, UK (FILE - MAY 8, 2013) (PARLIAMENT TV) - Britain's Queen Elizabeth was "delighted" at the news the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were expecting a baby, which will become third in line to the throne and no wonder she was pleased as this royal baby will secure the House of Windsor's bloodline for more generations to come.
Prince Charles, the Queen's first-born, will become the next monarch, followed by Prince William. And now his and his wife Catherine's baby will follow in that line."The birth of another generation of the Royal House of Windsor, in direct line of succession to the throne, is what the hereditary monarchy is all about," said royal historian Hugo Vickers.
"And it is a wonderful thing that the Queen and Prince Philip in their reign, even after a reign of 61 years will see the eventual heir and that's what continuity is all about and that is the great advantage of the strange but very effective system that we have of constitutional monarchy," he said.
Recently centuries of British royal discrimination came to an end when in October 2011 Commonwealth leaders agreed to drop rules that give sons precedence as heir to the throne.
Queen Elizabeth only became monarch because her parents, King George VI and his Queen Elizabeth, did not have any sons.
The constitutional change in British and Commonwealth law means that if Williamand Kate have a baby girl, she will become a future queen even if the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge go on to have a baby boy.
Westminster politicians hailed the move as bringing Britain into line with modern thinking and providing equality, but royal author Charles Mosley, says the very notion of succession is inherently unequal.
"I don't see that you are going to get more equality by replacing male superiority over female superiority with age superiority. Why should the eldest have a special right to anything as opposed to the youngest or the middle or if there are many children, the fourth or fifth child? It's absurd. And of course that's the point about monarchy, we can't all be monarchs," he said.
"It is not necessarily going to usher in a better kind of sovereign," he added.
87-year-old Queen Elizabeth has always said she will never abdicate. Her mother, the Queen Mum, died at the age of 101, and the Queen is in good health so it could be a long time yet before the 64-year-old Prince Charles takes up the job he was born to do.
He is the longest-waiting successor after overtaking Queen Victoria's son Edward VII, his great-great grandfather, in 2008.
Prince Charles has expressed concerns that he will "snuff it" before he does all that he wants to do.
Last year, when the Queen and royal family celebrated her Diamond Jubilee, her approval rating was 48 percent according to an Ipsos Mori poll. William was voted the most popular royal with a 62 percent approval rating, the highest since the surveys began in 1984. Two previous polls found that people believe Williamwould make a better king and that Charles should stand aside.
William and Kate are certainly the modern face of the royal family and help make the House of Windsor appear less stuffy.
But it's hard to predict what the royal family will look like under Prince William when he eventually becomes king, says Vickers.
"People keep asking me "What sort of a monarchy will it be under them?' and the answer is we simply don't know, it's likely to be slightly less formal I would think, but each generation brings to it something of their own style, their own upbringing, their own mood of the times and so forth, which is as it should be, that is again one of the advantages of a hereditary monarchy is that is has a sort of natural rejuvenation," he said.
The Duchess of Cambridge is due to give birth in the middle of July. Buckingham Palace has said the couple do not know whether they are expecting a future king or queen.