What would happen in this situation?

Question

Lets backtrack to 1952. King George VI has died and his daughter Queen Elizabeth II has mounted the throne. Five months into her reign a startling discovery is made- the Queen mother is pregnant with a boy that his late Majesty was the father of. My question is this- what would happen when the child was born? Would he become king when he was born? Would his elder sister reign until he came of age? Thanks for your answers.

Answer 1

It is quite certain that in the few hours immediately after George VI's death, gentle enquiries had been made as to the possible birth of a posthumous heir. The proclamation of Elizabeth's unconditional accession must have been made knowing that no such event would occur.

Otherwise, of course, in 1952, there was no way they could have known the s*x of the unborn child, so they would have had to wait for the birth. My guess is that a male child would have been King from the moment that he was born, and that Parliament would have appointed a Regency Council, including his mother and elder sister, to act for him until he came of age. But what Elizabeth's status would have been between her father's death and her brother's birth is a most interesting question.

Answer 2

Because the daughter has already assumed and ascended to the throne, the forthcoming birth of a little brother would have no effect on her being queen.  The only way the little brother could ascend to the throne, is if his big sister dies.

Answer 3

Given the Queen Mother's age and the circumstances surround the conceptions of Elizabeth and Margaret, this is speculation of the highest order.

Answer 4

Yes. The new-born male heir would become King of Great Britain. When Queen Elizabeth II's father became King in 1936 upon the abdication of her uncle, King Edward VIII, she became heiress presumptive and was thenceforth known as "Her Royal Highness The Princess Elizabeth". An heiress presumptive is the person provisionally scheduled to inherit a throne, peerage, or other hereditary honor, but whose position can be displaced by the birth of an heir apparent or of a new heir presumptive with a better claim to the throne.

The line of succession to the British Throne is an ordered list of the people in line to succeed to the throne of the United Kingdom. The succession is regulated by the Act of Settlement 1701, which limits it to the heirs of the Electress Sophia of Hanover, as determined by male-preference primogeniture, religion, and legitimate birth:

- A person is always immediately followed in the succession by his or her own legitimate descendants (his or her 'line'). Birth order and gender matter: older sons (and their lines) come before younger sons (and theirs); a person's sons (and their lines), irrespective of age, all come before his or her daughters (and their lines).

- Anyone who is Roman Catholic, becomes Roman Catholic, or marries a Roman Catholic is permanently excluded from the succession; this provision removing "papists" from the succession has never been tested.

- A person born to parents who are not married to each other at the time of birth is not included in the line of succession. The subsequent marriage of the parents does not alter this.

Answer 5

It's a what if situation, really, he could've very well became king once he came of age.