Editing Heir apparent (section)

== Heir apparent versus heir presumptive ==
[[File:Crowd awaiting Crown Prince Tokyo Dec1916.jpg|thumb|right|190px|Throngs before the [[Tokyo Imperial Palace|Imperial Palace]] in Japan awaiting the appearance of the [[Crown Prince]] [[Hirohito]] for the recent proclamation of his official recognition as the heir apparent to the [[Chrysanthemum Throne|Japanese Imperial Throne]] &ndash; ''New York Times'', 1916.]]

In a hereditary system governed by some form of [[primogeniture]], an heir apparent is easily identifiable as the person whose position as first in the [[line of succession]] to a title or office is secure, regardless of future births. An [[heir presumptive]], by contrast, can always be "bumped down" in the succession by the birth of somebody more closely related in a legal sense (according to that form of primogeniture) to the current title-holder.

The clearest example occurs in the case of a childless bearer of a [[hereditary title]] that can only be inherited by one person. If at any time the title bearer were to produce children, those children would rank ahead of any person who had formerly been heir presumptive.

Many legal systems assume [[Illustrations of the rule against perpetuities#The fertile octogenarian|childbirth is always possible]] regardless of age or health. In such circumstances a person may be, in a practical sense, the heir apparent but still, legally speaking, heir presumptive. Indeed, when [[Queen Victoria]] succeeded her uncle [[William IV of the United Kingdom|King William IV]], the wording of the proclamation even gave as a [[:wikt:caveat|caveat]]:

{{blockquote|...saving the rights of any issue of his late Majesty King William IV, which may be born of his late Majesty's consort.}}

This provided for the possibility that William's wife, [[Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen]], was pregnant at the moment of his death, since such a [[Posthumous birth|posthumous]] child, regardless of its sex, would have displaced Victoria from the throne.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.heraldica.org/topics/britain/brit-proclamations.htm#Introduction |title=Proclamations of Accessions of British Sovereigns (1547–1952)<!-- Bot generated title --> |access-date=2007-02-01 |archive-date=2023-04-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230408085904/http://www.heraldica.org/topics/britain/brit-proclamations.htm#Introduction |url-status=live }}</ref>  Adelaide was 44 at the time, so pregnancy was possible even if unlikely.

=== Daughters in male-preference primogeniture ===
{{main|Male heir|Son preference}}
Daughters (and their lines) may inherit titles that descend according to male-preference primogeniture, but only in default of sons (and their heirs).  That is, both female and male offspring have the right to a place somewhere in the order of succession, but when it comes to what that place is, a female will rank behind her brothers regardless of their ages or her age.

Thus, normally, even an only daughter will not be an heiress apparent, since at any time a brother might be born who, though younger, would assume that position. Hence, she is an heiress presumptive. For example, [[Elizabeth II|Queen Elizabeth II]] was the heiress presumptive during the reign of her father, [[George VI|King George VI]]; had George fathered a legitimate son, then that child would have displaced Elizabeth in the line of succession and become heir apparent.

However, a granddaughter could for example be an heiress apparent if she were the only daughter of the deceased eldest son of the sovereign (e.g. Queen Elizabeth II would have been the heiress apparent to George V if her oldest uncle and father both had died before their father).

=== Women as heirs apparent ===
In a system of absolute primogeniture that disregards gender, female heirs apparent occur. As succession to titles, positions, or offices in the past most often favoured males, females considered to be an heir apparent were rare. Absolute primogeniture was not practised by any modern monarchy for succession to their thrones until the late twentieth century, with Sweden being the first to adopt absolute primogeniture in 1980 and other Western European monarchies following suit.

Since the adoption of absolute primogeniture by most of the Western European monarchies, examples of female heirs apparent include [[Victoria, Crown Princess of Sweden|Crown Princess Victoria]] of Sweden, [[Catharina-Amalia, Princess of Orange|Princess Catharina-Amalia]] of the Netherlands, and [[Princess Elisabeth, Duchess of Brabant|Princess Elisabeth]] of Belgium; they are, respectively, the oldest children of Kings [[Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden|Carl XVI Gustaf]], [[Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands|Willem-Alexander]], and [[Philippe of Belgium|Philippe]]. [[Princess Ingrid Alexandra of Norway]] is heir apparent to her father, who is heir apparent to the Norwegian throne, and Victoria herself has a female heir apparent in her elder child, [[Princess Estelle, Duchess of Östergötland|Princess Estelle]]. Victoria was not heir apparent from birth (in 1977), but gained the status in 1980 following a change in the [[Swedish Act of Succession]]. Her younger brother [[Prince Carl Philip, Duke of Värmland|Carl Philip]] (born 1979) was thus heir apparent for a few months (and is a rare example of an heir apparent losing this status without a death occurring).

In 2015, pursuant to the 2011 [[Perth Agreement]], the [[Commonwealth realm]]s changed the rules of succession to the 16 thrones of [[Elizabeth II]] to absolute primogeniture, except for male heirs born before the Perth Agreement. The effects are not likely to be felt for many years; the first two heirs at the time of the agreement (Charles, Prince of Wales, later [[Charles III]], and his son [[William, Prince of Wales]]) were already eldest born children, and in 2013 William's first-born son [[Prince George of Wales]] became the next apparent successor.

But even in legal systems that apply male-preference primogeniture, female heirs apparent are by no means impossible: if a male heir apparent dies leaving no sons but at least one daughter, then the eldest daughter would replace her father as heir apparent to whatever throne or title is concerned, but only when it has become clear that the widow of the deceased is not pregnant. Then, as the representative of her father's line she would assume a place ahead of any more distant relatives. For example, had [[George IV|George, Prince of Wales]] (the future George IV) predeceased his father, King [[George III]], between 1796 and 1817, the former's daughter, [[Princess Charlotte of Wales (1796–1817)|Princess Charlotte]], being his only legitimate child, would have become heir apparent to the British throne. Such a situation has not to date occurred with the English or British throne; several times an heir apparent has died, but each example has either been childless or left a son or sons. However, there have been several female heirs apparent to British peerages (e.g. [[Frances Ward, 6th Baroness Dudley]], and [[Henrietta Wentworth, 6th Baroness Wentworth]]).

In one special case, however, England and Scotland had a female heir apparent. The [[Glorious Revolution|Revolution]] [[Bill of Rights 1689|settlement]] that established [[William III of England|William]] and [[Mary II of England|Mary]] as joint monarchs in 1689 only gave the power to continue the succession through issue to Mary II, elder daughter of the previous king, [[James II of England|James II]].  William, by contrast, was to reign for life only, and his (hypothetical) children by a wife other than Mary would be placed in his original place (as Mary's first cousin) in the line of succession—after Mary's younger sister [[Anne, Queen of Great Britain|Anne]]. Thus, after Mary's death William continued to reign, but he had no power to beget direct heirs,<ref>[http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=37644 "King James’ Parliament: The succession of William and Mary – begins 13/2/1689"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928035800/http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=37644 |date=2007-09-28 }} ''The History and Proceedings of the House of Commons: volume 2: 1680–1695 (1742)'', pp. 255–277.  Accessed: 16 February 2007.</ref> and Anne became the heir apparent for the remainder of William's reign. She eventually succeeded him as Queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland.