Princess Beatrice Misery: Prince Andrew's Daughter Can Lose THIS Besides Dream Wedding
Princess Beatrice not only lost her wedding date, but she may also lose a potential title. The world is quite unfair, but Princess Beatrice is truly getting the short end of the stick lately.
She may be Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson's eldest child, but she might still lose out on a hereditary royal title, and to a baby, no less. To Prince Louis to be exact.
At 31, Princess Beatrice is the elder of her parents' two daughters. Observing tradition, Queen Elizabeth, now 94, gave her son Prince Andrew a dukedom when he got married in 1986. Since then, he's the Duke of York. Essentially, dukedoms are hereditary titles. This means they can be passed on to the holder's child upon death. Still, Princess Beatrice could still lose out and not get this title for one very simple reason.
The UK presently operates a system of male primogeniture when it comes to titles. Over and above anything else, male heirs are prioritized over female heirs. Gender is a criterion above age or even the relation to the titleholder. It does not matter that Princess Beatrice is so much older than Prince Louis, 2. It also does not matter that the dukedom is with her father, Prince Andrew.
The Letters Patent for the 1986 creation of the Dukedom of York states that the title is to be inherited by male heirs of the body. Prince Andrew does not have any male heir. He only has two daughters, which means the title could possibly go onto a different Royal Family member, Express UK explained.
One can only wonder if Princess Beatrice ever had the chance to the title if this system exists. According to one Quora user, who managers a British Line of succession website, the Duke of York title can even go to Prince William and Kate Middleton's family - to their youngest son Prince Louis, even.
According to the website, "The Dukedom of York will be inherited by the oldest legitimate son of the current duke." But as the duke has no sons, unless the situation still changes, the title will cease to exist for his family and will become available for the monarch at the time, to be given to whoever they want.
Usually, the title is provided to the second son of the monarch. At present, it is still unclear who the king will be when the time comes. But the website does have its own guess and analysis.
It wrote, "given that Prince Andrew is twelve years younger than Prince Charles, it seems likely that when Prince Andrew dies, and the dukedom becomes available, Prince Charles will have already died and Prince William will be the king."
Being Prince William's second son, Prince Louis can, therefore, become the prime candidate to the dukedom.
Why are all these still up in the air? Did Princess Beatrice ever have the chance? Did she even ever want it? According to Express UK, Princess Beatrice actually still has the opportunity to get it.
There is now a bill calling to change the law that states women should also be allowed to inherit hereditary peerages. The law had already passed the first stage in Parliament back in 2019. The bill is called the Hereditary Titles Female Succession Bill.
At present though, she might not care that much. She's still incensed with the fact that she cannot have her dream wedding, which has been affected first by Prince Andrew's scandals, and then by the Covid-19 pandemic. She is not even making new plans yet.
