If a King or Queen legally adopts a child but have no biological children of their own ...?

Question

can that child become the king or queens successor after their death even though he is not literally royal by blood line? If so, has there ever been a case like this?

Answer 1

Besides the adoption question there are a few more interesting questions.

(1) legitimacy - If a child is born to parents it is automatically considered to be the father's child in UK.

(2) legitimacy - Children born to unmarried parents are legitimate forever, even if their parents marry. There is an Earldom in QE's family that had a daughter then a son. They married a few weeks after the son was born. Neither of them can inherit the title. A 3rd son was born after they were married and he gets the title.

(3) primogeniture - Elizabeth is queen because she had no brothers. In Sweden they changed the law after a daughter was born followed by a son. The King was upset because he felt that it was wrong to change the law "after the fact". The UK has simply not had to deal with the problem since for some time now, the first child has always been a boy, or there were no brothers.

(4) Catholic spouses - If William fell deeply in love with a Catholic woman who didn't want to change her faith - I think people would rather see the law changed then to force William to step out of the line in favor of his brother Harry.

(5) conversion to Catholicism - There have been a few cases of conversion that are fairly high up in the line of succession. It is possible that one of the inner group may convert.

Answer 2

Mo Fayed is wrong. James II's daughter became queen and her husband and cousin was co-sovereign with her. He simply wasn't "brought in" because of a lack of heirs.

Delicious Pear is also wrong for not clarifying and explaining, most royal successions are from relative to relative via preset succession laws, so this hasn't happened "many times" although it's happened before (such as in Sweden-Norway with the Bernadottes).

These days, a king or queen cannot adopt a child to be their successor because they would be violating the birthrights of their other relatives who may be in line of succession. Again, a case in history was when Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte (later Charles XIV & III John of Sweden & Norway) was elected as heir for Charles XIII & II of Sweden & Norway.

Answer 3

Yes, though that would depend on the traditional laws of succession in the country concerned.   In the UK the government can change the Royal Family under certain circumstances - this happened in 1688 when King James the second was given the bum's rush and King William of Holland was given the job.  This was called the 'Glorious Revolution'.

Answer 4

Yes, it's happened many times, although a more "normal solution" would be for the King or Queen to designate a close relative, such as a nephew, as the heir.

Answer 5

Commoners are just so...oh, how do I say it...they're just so...common...parliament this, parliament that...the people want this, the people want that...trust me...when a TRUE monarch wants something...THEY'RE GOING TO GET IT...and, in the end...that choice will be what holds the monarchy together...   ...that's what my thirty-ninth great grandpappy, Charlemagne, told me...and I'm not believin' nothin' else...