Commonwealth heads agree to update royal succession rules
Posted October 28, 2011 6:24 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Female offspring of future monarchs will be given equal treatment to boys under new royal succession rules agreed to by Commonwealth leaders today in Perth, Australia.
The 300-year-old rules of succession — which determine who will become Canada’s head of state — were belatedly dragged into the 21st century by dint of the massive popularity of Prince William and his wife Kate, the Duchess of Cornwall.
British Prime Minister David Cameron announced the rule changes along with Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard at a Commonwealth summit after the 16 “realms” still headed by the Queen agreed to the reforms.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper said the “obvious modernizations” were long overdue, but didn’t give a timeline for when legislation will be brought to Parliament for approval.
Cameron, in announcing that royal sons will no longer take precedence over older sisters in the line of succession explained the change by stating that: “Put simply, if the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were to have a little girl, that girl would one day be our queen.”
