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Succession to the British throne is determined by descent, legitimacy, and religion. Under common law, the crown is inherited by an individual's children and by a childless individual's nearest collateral line. The Bill of Rights 1689 and the Act of Settlement 1701, both of them as amended in March 2015, restrict the succession to the legitimate Protestant descendants of Sophia, Electress of Hanover that are in "communion with the Church of England"〔(Official website of the British Monarchy ) (retrieved 30 March 2015): "The Act laid down that only Protestant descendants of Princess Sophia - the Electress of Hanover and granddaughter of James I - are eligible to succeed. Subsequent Acts have confirmed this."〕 (while marrying to Roman Catholics no longer disqualifies). Protestant descendants of those excluded for being Catholics are eligible to succeed.〔Bogdanor (1995), p. 55〕 Queen Elizabeth II is the present sovereign and her heir apparent is her eldest son, Charles, Prince of Wales. Second in line is Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, the Prince of Wales's eldest son. Third in line is Prince George of Cambridge, the son of the Duke of Cambridge, followed by his sister, Princess Charlotte of Cambridge in fourth place. Fifth in line is Prince Harry (Prince Henry of Wales), the younger son of the Prince of Wales. The first four individuals in the line of succession who are twenty-one years or older, and the sovereign's consort, may be appointed Counsellors of State. Counsellors of State perform some of the sovereign's duties in the United Kingdom while he or she is out of the country or temporarily incapacitated. Otherwise, individuals in the line of succession need not have specific legal or official duties (though members of the royal family often do). The United Kingdom is one of the 16 Commonwealth realms. Each of those countries has the same person as monarch and the same order of succession. In 2011, the prime ministers of the realms agreed unanimously to adopt a common approach to amending the rules on the succession to their respective Crowns so that absolute primogeniture would apply for persons born after the date of the agreement, instead of male-preference primogeniture, and the ban on marriages to Roman Catholics would be lifted. The ban on Catholics themselves was retained to ensure that the monarch would be in communion with the Church of England. After the necessary legislation had been enacted in accordance with each realm's constitution, the changes took effect on 26 March 2015. ==Current line of succession== The first 17 individuals in the line of succession are the descendants of Queen Elizabeth II:〔Official website of the British Monarchy, ("Succession" ); Debrett's, ("The Line of Succession to the British Throne" )〕 # Prince Charles, Prince of Wales (b. 1948), eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II # Prince William, Duke of Cambridge (b. 1982), elder son of Charles, Prince of Wales # Prince George of Cambridge (b. 2013), son of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge # Princess Charlotte of Cambridge (b. 2015), daughter of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge # Prince Henry of Wales (b. 1984), younger son of Charles, Prince of Wales # The Prince Andrew, The Duke of York (b. 1960), second son of Queen Elizabeth II # Princess Beatrice of York (b. 1988), elder daughter of Prince Andrew, Duke of York # Princess Eugenie of York (b. 1990), younger daughter of Prince Andrew, Duke of York # The Prince Edward, The Earl of Wessex (b. 1964), youngest son of Queen Elizabeth II # James, Viscount Severn (b. 2007), son of Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex # Lady Louise Windsor (b. 2003), daughter of Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex # The Princess Anne, The Princess Royal (b. 1950), daughter of Queen Elizabeth II # Peter Phillips (b. 1977), son of Anne, Princess Royal # Savannah Phillips (b. 2010), elder daughter of Peter Phillips # Isla Phillips (b. 2012), younger daughter of Peter Phillips # Zara Phillips (b. 1981), daughter of Anne, Princess Royal # Mia Tindall (b. 2014), daughter of Zara Phillips The line continues with the nearest collateral line, namely, descendants of Elizabeth's younger sister Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon (1930–2002) (numbered 18–23). The next of the collateral lines, descending from Elizabeth and Margaret's grandfather George V, are headed by younger brothers of the Queen's father, George VI: Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester (1900–1974) and Prince George, Duke of Kent (1902–1942). Next follow eligible descendants of Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood, only daughter of George V, followed by other eligible descendants of Edward VII, and of the earlier British monarchs, back to George I. No official, complete, version of the line of succession is currently maintained. The exact number, in remoter collateral lines, of the persons who would be eligible is uncertain. In 2001 genealogist William Addams Reitwiesner compiled a list of 4973 living descendants of the Electress Sophia in order of succession, but disregarding Roman Catholic status.〔(W.A.Reitwiesner )〕 When updated to January 2011, the number was more than five thousand.〔David Lewis (based on previous lists by William Addams Reitwiesner), ''Persons eligible to succeed to the British Throne as of 1 Jan 2011''()〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Succession to the British throne」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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