The Royal Family #47

[TheStrawberryThief]

I can’t think why

If only he was this exciting irl.

This has got me thinking though, do you think people would ever accept a gay monarch or heir and what would it change.

Eg if George turned our to be gay and got married, his husband couldn't also be a King, would they use Prince as a title?

Or if it was 2 women, Queen and Princess Consort?

How would providing an heir work?

 

[Baby Giraffe]

If only he was this exciting irl.

This has got me thinking though, do you think people would ever accept a gay monarch or heir and what would it change.

Eg if George turned our to be gay and got married, his husband couldn't also be a King, would they use Prince as a title?

Or if it was 2 women, Queen and Princess Consort?

How would providing an heir work?

Re the heir, historically not all monarchs have had children so it would just go to the next in line so if George were gay then Charlotte would be next in line

 

[H.R. Pufnstuf]

Re the heir, historically not all monarchs have had children so it would just go to the next in line so if George were gay then Charlotte would be next in line

Would that still be the case if he fathered a child?

 

[Dawnienodaethat]

Would that still be the case if he fathered a child?

No. If he fathered a child they would come before Charlotte in line to the throne.
Much the same as George, Charlotte and Louis come before Harry.

 

[Blurp]

Would that still be the case if he fathered a child?

Only if it was legitimate.

Anyway, plenty of gay men have had children with women and been married to women. James VI & I was notorious for his male lovers yet had several children with his wife, Anne of Denmark, and was very fond of her, referring to her as "my Annie".

 

[Baby Giraffe]

Only if it was legitimate.

Anyway, plenty of gay men have had children with women and been married to women. James VI & I was notorious for his male lovers yet had several children with his wife, Anne of Denmark, and was very fond of her, referring to her as "my Annie".

The legitimacy thing would be more awkward if the regent had a same sex marriage though as that child could not have both parties as it’s biological parents, then again, I don’t think they’ve got their heads around adoption either so who knows.

 

[Lammington]

I believe that to have a place in the line of succession would require a child to be a legitimate bloodline descendent of the Hanoverian line. So if George marries a man and they adopt, the adopted child/ren couldn't inherit.
I don't know that there are clear rules on surrogacy. It's assumed no, but I don't know that it's been fully challenged - I think the main issue would come of the need to adopt a surrogate child for legal considerations, so technically it would be an illegitimate child at birth which is likely to count them out.

I'd like to think that at this point in time an out gay monarch would be accepted, but people have got outraged by any number of things you'd expect to be no issue.

 

[Boring Monday]

Top lawyers explain everything you need to know about surrogacy and peerages

The heir and the spare – or are they? Sarah Williams, Legal Director at Payne Hicks Beach, and Edward Bennett, Barrister at Harcourt Chambers, offer their insights

www.tatler.com

Tricky stuff.

 

[Multi-21]

The real tricky bit is when do they change it without everyone immediately saying George must be gay and then watching his every minute movement to prove it? Judi James would be analysing every interaction with make and female friends to decide his body language

 

[Yel]

A gay monarch would probably very welcomed in order to maintain relevance.

They'd update succession rules as they did before to remove the male preference in 2012.

Queen's Speech pledges continued reform of royal succession

Changes to royal succession rules to make them "fit for the 21st century" are confirmed by the Queen at the state opening of parliament.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[elliebee27]

If George was then Charlotte would be sovereign after him or her children presumably as adopted or surrogate children can't inherit, right?

 

[TheStrawberryThief]

Thank you for your interesting thoughts on this.

One of my favourite m/m Romance series covers this subject, His Royal Secret/His Royal favourite. If I am remembering correctly that goes for sisters children to be heir. However the book is quite a few years old now, so may have gone for something different if written today.

There is some fun stuff in it about how the press and rest of family would react to the revelation.

If anyone is interested it is by Lilah Pace ( this is a pseudonym for another author but no one had ever cracked who it is. I think they may be a YA author who wants to keep their steamy books away from their main audience)

 

[Lammington]

There's been many a childless monarch through history, it goes to the next in line and then onwards from there. After all, QEII wouldn't have been a monarch if things had gone according to the plan.
There's always a backup plan, even if that means bouncing a few branches back up the family tree to find someone.

I would be interested to see what the take on or legal argument around surrogacy would be, though. Perhaps we'll see it in a peerage succession in the next decade or two and see the groundwork laid.

 

[MemoryLane]

A gay Monarch would not be accepted, that’s not my opinion because I wouldn’t care less but no way would it be acceptable to hardcore Royalists.

 

[Em_gardener]

A gay Monarch would not be accepted, that’s not my opinion because I wouldn’t care less but no way would it be acceptable to hardcore Royalists.

I think it's one of those things that everyone is ok with in theory but in reality it would throw up a lot of sticky questions about children, adoption, surrogacy and that could bring the whole house of cards down. It would bring too much focus on the reason why the rf are the rf - random accident of birth - and that wouldn't be a good thing for them really. I don't think being gay would be the problem but succession would be a huge problem.

 

[MemoryLane]

Yes, @Em_gardener i agree, it throws up far to many issues and even though society is more accepting of same sex marriage there are a lot who still aren’t and will hide their homophobic thoughts and opinions behind the inheritance and succession issues. Prince Albert won’t include his illegitimate children in the line of succession. He’s made that clear. He won’t change a thing. I don’t know if he can, legally but he’s stated it’s not something he’d consider!

 

[Boring Monday]

I think it's one of those things that everyone is ok with in theory but in reality it would throw up a lot of sticky questions about children, adoption, surrogacy and that could bring the whole house of cards down. It would bring too much focus on the reason why the rf are the rf - random accident of birth - and that wouldn't be a good thing for them really. I don't think being gay would be the problem but succession would be a huge problem.

As it stands at the moment, I think a gay monarch who had children would actually just be regarded as childless and the succession slip down to the ‘official’ next in line.

 

[Em_gardener]

As it stands at the moment, I think a gay monarch who had children would actually just be regarded as childless and the succession slip down to the ‘official’ next in line.

That would cause uproar though. It would draw too much attention to the fact that it's a completely random accident of birth that has put PW or PG in the positions they're in and people will question the logic of it more and more. I know everyone knows that it's an accident of birth anyway but it's different if it's being regularly discussed in the media or online because a gay monarch has had a child.

 

[LittleBirdie]

Since the CofE doesn’t allow same sex marriage, a gay royal would have to have a civil marriage. Obviously the late queen didn’t attend C&Cs civil wedding as she was the head of the CofE, but I wonder if this would be the case going forwards. Would Charles be obligated to not attend a civil wedding, even though he had one himself?

 

[Suzesnooze]

I’m sure if he really was gay then Harry would have told Oprah or written about it in his ‘novel’