Abdication - Accession to the throne...

[Phil7]

kettledrum gave a very full & complete answer recently to question of who was 1st woman in line for the throne. Perhaps kd or (anyone else) could answer how things change in case of an abdication.

Because Edward VIII abdicated (rather than died), the throne did not automatically pass to the next eldest brother, but was "chosen". Who chooses, and how does it apply if (unlike Ed.VIII) the monarch is not childless?

[prospector]

His Majesty's Declaration of Abdication Act 1936 was the Act of the British Parliament that allowed King Edward VIII to abdicate the throne, and passed succession to Prince Albert, Duke of York.

Although Edward VIII had signed a declaration of abdication the previous day, he was still King until he gave royal assent to this Act.

The Act was passed through the Houses of Parliament in one day, with no amendments. The governments of the British dominions (Canada, Australia, the Union of South Africa, and New Zealand) gave their permission for the Act to apply in their respective realms, a requirement of the Statute of Westminster 1931. However the Act did not apply to the Irish Free State, which instead passed the External Relations Act, recognising the Duke of York as King.

The Act was necessary for two main reasons:

There is no provision in British Law for the sovereign to abdicate. The Act of Settlement 1701 ensured that the senior descendant of the Electress Sophia of Hanover was sovereign in England. The Act of Union 1707 confirmed this for Great Britain. Thus the senior descendant of Sophia is automatically sovereign, whether they wish to be or not. If the sovereign abdicates, an Act of Parliament is required to give it legal effect;

The Act ensured that the throne passed over to Prince Albert, Duke of York, but that it did not exclude other descendants of the Electress Sophia from the line of succession. Any future descendants of Edward VIII would however, not have a claim to the throne and would not be bound by the Royal Marriages Act 1772.

As soon as King Edward VIII gave his royal assent to this Act, he was no longer King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The throne immediately passed to Prince Albert, Duke of York, who was proclaimed George VI the next day at St. James's Palace, London.

[saintpeter48]

bt, who is the first woman in line for throne, me thinks it must be eugene.

[Phil7]

Princess Beatrice - she's the elder sister of the two, St.P48.

Thanx Prospector, what was your source - it's a whole lot more than I managed to find? It's all very confusing, perhaps the key phrase is "no provision in British Law"!!