New royal baby will be sixth great-grandchild for the Queen

New royal baby will be sixth great-grandchild for the Queen

The new Prince or Princess of Cambridge will be born fifth in line to the throne.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s third child – a younger sibling to Prince George and Princess Charlotte – will be the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh’s sixth great-grandchild.

They will also be a great-great-great-great-great-grandchild of Queen Victoria.

Once the baby arrives, Prince Harry will shift down the line of succession to sixth place.

The Duke of York, who was born second in line, will move to seventh and Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie to eighth and ninth.

  1. The Prince of Wales
  2. The Duke of Cambridge
  3. Prince George
  4. Princess Charlotte
  5. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s third child
  6. Prince Harry
  7. The Duke of York
  8. Princess Beatrice
  9. Princess Eugenie
  10. Earl of Wessex

Kate is one of three and had a happy home life with her sister, Pippa Matthews, and brother, James Middleton, and is close to both of her siblings.

The Duchess of Cambridge and her sister Pippa (Adam Davy/PA)
The Duchess of Cambridge and her sister Pippa (Adam Davy/PA)

Kate joked in the months leading up to her due date that her husband was “in denial” about having a third.

By having more than two children, William and Kate are following in the footsteps of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, who went on to have four children – although there was a gap of 10 years between their second child, Anne, and third, Andrew.

As a sibling to both future king George and “spare to the heir” Charlotte, the new baby is unlikely ever to be crowned sovereign.

The Duke of York is the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh’s third child, but when Andrew was born in 1960 he leapfrogged his older sister, Princess Anne, in the line of succession.

Prince Andrew smiles on the lap of his grandmother, the Queen Mother, as his brother, Prince Charles, and sister, Princess Anne, look on, in the garden of Clarence House, London (PA)
Prince Andrew smiles on the lap of his grandmother, the Queen Mother, as his brother, Prince Charles, and sister, Princess Anne, look on in the garden of Clarence House (PA)

Previously, under the ancient rules of male primogeniture, royal sons took precedence over their female siblings, even leapfrogging first-born royal daughters.

  1. Savannah Phillips (daughter of Peter and Autumn Phillips)
  2. Isla Phillips (second daughter of Peter and Autumn Phillips)
  3. Prince George of Cambridge
  4. Mia Tindall (daughter of Zara and Mike Tindall)
  5. Princess Charlotte of Cambridge
  6. The new Cambridge baby

The Succession to the Crown Act 2013 has already affected the Duke of Gloucester’s granddaughters, Senna Lewis and Lyla Gilman, whose younger brothers, born in 2012, now follow them in the line of succession.

The new baby will be a prince or princess thanks to the Queen, who stepped in ahead of Prince George’s birth to ensure all William’s children would become HRHs with fitting titles.

The Queen speaks with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge at three month-old Prince George's christening (John Stillwell/PA)
The Queen speaks with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge at three-month-old Prince George’s christening (John Stillwell/PA)

A Letters Patent in 1917, issued by George V, limited titles within the royal family, meaning daughters born to William or Kate would not have been an HRH but Lady (forename) Mountbatten-Windsor instead and second or later-born sons would also have lacked the HRH title and become Lord (forename) Mountbatten-Windsors rather than princes.

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