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Heir presumptive

Monarchical title of inheritance

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Overview

Depending on the laws controlling succession to the monarchy (or the rules of the peerage) in question, the heir presumptive might be:

  • the senior member of a collateral line if the monarch is childless or if the monarch's direct descendants cannot inherit, either because:
    • they are daughters, and females are completely barred from inheriting;
    • the monarch's children are illegitimate;
    • or some other legal disqualification exists, such as
      • the descendant is descended from the monarch through a morganatic line, or
      • the descendant refuses to or cannot adopt the religion that, to be monarch, the person is required to profess.

The subsequent birth of a legitimate child to the monarch may displace the heir presumptive by creating an heir apparent, or a more eligible heir presumptive. It is not assumed that the monarch and his or her consort are incapable of producing further children despite advanced age or infirmity. For example, on the day before Queen Elizabeth II ascended the British throne, her father George VI was gravely ill and her mother was 51 years old, but Elizabeth was still the heir presumptive rather than heir apparent because of the remote possibility of her parents producing a son.

An heir presumptive's position may not be secure even after they ascend their throne, as a posthumous child, born after the death of his or her parent the late monarch, could have a superseding claim. Following the death of the childless King William IV of the United Kingdom in 1837, he was succeeded by his niece Victoria. Per the Regency Act 1830, however, Victoria's accession would be permanent only once it could be determined that William's widow Adelaide was not pregnant with a posthumous child. The possibility of such an event was even mentioned in Victoria's accession proclamation, even though Adelaide was 44 years old and had last been pregnant 17 years earlier, while William had been in failing health for months. Had a child been born, he or she would have replaced Victoria on the throne. Such a situation occurred in Spain in 1885, when King Alfonso XII died and left behind his widow who was three months pregnant. His five-year-old daughter and heir presumptive, María de las Mercedes, was not declared queen because she would be displaced if a son was born; instead, there was a six-month interregnum until the birth of her brother Alfonso XIII, who assumed the throne as king immediately upon birth. Had the pregnancy been lost or resulted in another daughter, Mercedes would have become queen regnant and been retroactively recognized as having become queen upon the death of her father (which would have obviated the need for an interregnum, though only in hindsight).

Heir presumptive, like heir apparent, is not a title or position. Rather, it is a general term for a person who holds a certain place in the order of succession. In some monarchies, the heir apparent bears, ipso facto, a specific title and rank (e.g., in Denmark, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom where Prince of Wales is used to denote the heir apparent). This also is sometimes the case for noble titleholders (e.g., in Spain and the United Kingdom), but a mere heir presumptive does not bear—or is not traditionally given—that title. In other monarchies (e.g., in Monaco, Spain) the first in line to the throne always bears a specific title (i.e., "Hereditary Prince/Princess of Monaco", or Spain's "Prince/Princess of Asturias") by right, regardless of whether she or he is heir apparent or heir presumptive.

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