Girls Rule! No More Getting Behind the Boys In Line for the English Throne
Queen Elizabeth leads the Commonwealth Summit at which the royal succession rules were changed.
The Commonwealth of Nations, led by its figurehead Queen Elizabeth II, has decided that girls rule, or they can and will anyway, when it comes to leading the Commonwealth’s fifty-four member states.
Henceforth, if the ruling King or Queen of England has a daughter, she will not be surpassed by younger brothers in succession to the crown. No matter which gender of baby is born some day to Prince William and Kate Middleton, that child will likely wear the crown. If it’s a girl, as the Associated Press puts it, she’ll be, ”… the first princess to beat out any younger brothers and accede to the throne.” For the past several hundred years, sons always outranked daughters, even if they were younger than their royal sisters.
The Associated Press story explains that 16 different countries’ legislatures still need to approve the decision to revise the succession rules, but no opposition is expected. These include Canada and Australia, but also smaller nations of the Commonwealth like the Bahamas, Papua New Guinea, Tuvalu and Antiqua and Barbuda. (I’m embarrassed to say I’ve never even heard of Tuvalu.)
The change to the order of succession rules was made this week at the Commonwealth Summit, being held in Perth, Australia.
Let’s hear it for the girls!
Congratulations, British monarchy, on staying one step closer to modernity than the Vatican.