Since the death of Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022, there have been a number of updates and alterations to the official line of succession. This is the order in which members of the royal family stand to inherit the throne.
Royal family members’ place in the line of succession is determined by their blood proximity to the monarch, at present King Charles III. When Elizabeth died, all those in the line of succession moved one place closer to the throne, including the children of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
In March, it was announced that Harry and Meghan’s children, Archie and Lilibet Mountbatten-Windsor, would from then on be known in official communications by their “birthright” titles of Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet of Sussex.
These titles were automatically theirs to use when they became grandchildren of the ruling monarch, which has been the case since September.
The announcement came with the information that Princess Lilibet had been christened in California, the Sussex family’s home since Harry and Meghan split from the monarchy in 2020. Shortly afterwards, the royal family’s website updated their titles on the official line of succession.
Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet are sixth and seventh in the line of succession for the British throne.
As grandchildren of King Charles, the two are closely related by blood to the sovereign. This means they are prominently placed in the order. The five royals ahead of Archie and Lilibet are: Prince Harry in fifth position; Prince Louis in fourth; Princess Charlotte in third; Prince George in second; and Prince William in first as heir apparent.
Kate Middleton, Meghan Markle and other royal spouses are not in the line of succession because they are not blood relations of the monarch.
Archie and Lilibet are what’s known as “heirs presumptive” to the crown. This means that their positions in the line of succession are subject to change with births of additional members of the royal family. For example, when Prince George, Princess Charlotte or Prince Louis have children of their own, Prince Harry, Archie and Lilibet will move further away from the crown. It will lessen the likelihood of their ever becoming king or queen.
An apparent heir is a member of the royal family whose place in the line of succession cannot be displaced with a royal birth. Prince William is the current heir apparent. The only factor that can change his place in the line of succession would be his own death or the death of King Charles, in which case he would then automatically be king himself.
Archie and Lilibet’s titles have changed in a number of ways since their births.
When born, the children were not prince or princess. This is because they were great-grandchildren of the monarch at the time, Queen Elizabeth II.
In 1917, King George V set out a new protocol that governed who could be a prince or princess of the United Kingdom. He said that only the children and grandchildren of the monarch (born to male heirs) could be entitled to HRH (His/Her Royal Highness) prince or princess titles. This also included the eldest son of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales.
In 2013, Queen Elizabeth II changed the protocol to include all children of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales. This was to create equality among siblings (which is how Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis have their titles in addition to their elder brother, Prince George).
As Archie and Lilibet were not the children of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales (Prince Harry was the second son of Charles and Princess Diana), they were not entitled to prince/princess titles.
This meant that legally they were styled as the son and daughter of a duke, with Prince Harry being given the Dukedom of Sussex and Earldom of Dumbarton when he married in 2018.
As such, Archie was entitled to use the Earl of Dumbarton title and Lilibet was entitled to be known as Lady Lilibet Mountbatten-Windsor. However, when Archie was born, it was announced that a decision had been made not to use any courtesy title. For all formal correspondence, Archie was known as Master Archie Mountbatten-Windsor.
This same form was kept when Lilibet was born, being known officially as Miss Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor.
When Elizabeth died, Archie and Lilibet became the grandchildren of the monarch, Charles. As such, under the George V protocols, they were entitled to their HRH prince/princess titles.
These have been updated on the official line of succession as of March 9, 2023.
James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek’s royal reporter based in London. You can find him on Twitter at @jrcrawfordsmith and read his stories on Newsweek‘s The Royals Facebook page.
Since the death of Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022, there have been a number of updates and alterations to the official line of succession. This is the order in which members of the royal family stand to inherit the throne.
