Lilibet Dianaâs place in the line of succession and historical accusations of âillegitimacyâ.
So, on the 25th July The Daily Mail published an article highlighting the fact that The Duke and Duchess of Sussex daughter Lilibet Diana had not been added to the line of succession. To clarify, that meant the official royal website hadn't been updated. Claims were made that the House of Windsor was âmaking a pointâ and that they were being petty because other royal babies, Prince Louis, Archie and Lucas Tindall were added much sooner after their births.
The official Royal website has now updated the line of succession and Lilibet is listed as 8th in line after her brother Archie and just before Prince Andrew.
This little episode of course prompted all the idiots and trolls to come out of their caves and to first express their approval that Lilibet had been excluded and then to express their disgust when she was officially added, because âhow dare she?!â
âWe donât want Harry or his âoffspringâ to be anywhere near the British crown!â
âRemove Harry and his children from the line of succession!â
âTheir daughter was born in America! She has no place being in the line of succession! How can an American be the Queen of England?!â
These are just a few of the ridiculous and hateful comments aimed at a seven-week year old baby and a two-year-old.
But these aren't the worst of the comments, the predicable racist remarks can be found, because of course they can. But the most common âargumentâ against Lilibet (and Archie) not being allowed to be in the line of succession is that they aren't actually Prince Harry or Meghanâs children at all. The craziest thing is this argument or rather accusation wouldnât have been out of place at all up until the 17th century.
Meghan has been accused of wearing a âmoon bumpâ, using a surrogate and Archie has been referred to as a doll since the day he was born. It doesn't help that 'Royal Commentators' masquerading as 'Royal Experts' have been using their platforms to share conspiracy theories on Twitter, yet are still invited on to give their 'expertise' in someone else thoughts and feelings. People they have usually only ever met the once or not at all.
The most recent âproofâ these insane idiots have that Archie and Lilibet are illegitimate or ânot realâ is that no one was there to witness their births. Well, what they really mean to say is that no one from the palace was in the birthing room watching Meghan give birth.
As insane as these accusations are they can be paralleled throughout the history of the monarchy. The easiest way to try and claim the throne from the current occupant or the heir was to question their legitimacy.
Edward of Lancaster (b.1453) - Edward was the son of âMadâ King Henry VI and his Queen Margaret of Anjou. Edward was born when is father was having one of his episodes, Margaret presented the kings son to him but Henry didnât respond. Finally, when Henry snapped out of it he acknowledged Edward as his own. Edwardâs legitimacy however, was questioned and he was accused of being the son of his mother's advisers. Edward would later be cut out of the line of succession; he would go into exile and would eventually be killed at the Battle of Tewksbury during the Wars of the Roses.
Edward IV (b.1442) - Edward was the son of Richard Duke of York and Cecily Neville. His father is the one who replaced Edward of Lancaster as the heir to the English throne but he was killed at the Battle of Wakefield. Richard had been fighting to claim the English throne and Edward continued and won this fight. After Edwardâs death his throne passed to his 12-year-old son Edward V (one of the Princes in the Tower) but Edwards' brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester questioned not only his nephew's legitimacy, but also the legitimacy of Edward IV. Tony Robinson presented a documentary following this claim in âBritainâs Real Monarchâ. It was even claimed that Edwardâs mother Cecily was the one to make the accusation. She was apparently so enraged that her son had married a commoner she threatened to expose him as illegitimate and deprive him of the throne.
Edward V (b.1470) As mentioned above Edward was for a very short time King Edward V. But he was quickly deposed on the grounds that his father had been pre-contracted to another woman when he married Elizabeth Woodville. A pre-contract was as good as marriage in the 15th century, so that rendered all of Edward and Elizabethâs children illegitimate. Edward was deposed and his uncle Richard become King Richard III.
Mary I (b.1516) Mary Tudor was declared illegitimate by her own father King Henry VIII. Henry was desperate for a son and had his marriage to his first wife Catherine of Aragon annulled. According to Henry he had gone against God by marrying his brotherâs widow and that made his children with her as illegitimate. Mary remained illegitimate until she became Queen and rectified this.
Elizabeth I (b.1533) Elizabeth was declared illegitimate after her father Henry VIII had his marriage to his second wife Anne Boleyn annulled. Elizabeth, like her sister Mary did eventually succeed to the throne, but unlike Mary she didnât declare herself legitimate. The accusation of illegitimacy was used against Elizabeth throughout her reign and there have even been accusations that she was really a man!
Prince James Frances Edward (b.1688) James was the son of the Catholic James II and his Queen Mary of Modena. James being a Catholic had already created a problem, but the prospect of a Catholic male heir unnerved people. Rumors began to spread almost immediately that James was a changeling, that the Queens baby had died and a substitute had been snuck into the place in a warming pan! James II even had testimonies published from people who had witnessed the birth. James II was eventually deposed in the Glorious Revolution and his daughter and nephew were offered the crown. The story about Prince James (known as the Old Pretender) didnât go away, they were spread and encouraged by his own half sisters Mary and Anne.
Prince Harry (b.1984) rumors that Prince Harry is actually the son of James Hewitt have been around since the day he was born and are thrown out every time he is mentioned. People have claimed he isn't the son of Prince Charles based on âevidenceâ consisting of Harryâs red hair and by putting pictures of him and James Hewitt next to each other. Couple those with Charlesâ disappointment that Harry wasnât a girl and his displeasure at the red hair and apparently this is full proof evidence Harry isnât a Windsor.
Archie Harrison (b.2019) Archie has been accused of being a surrogate, an actor, the son of Meghanâs friend and a doll.
Lilibet Diana (b.2021) Lilibet has had the same accusations as her brother thrown at her, that she's a doll, sheâs a surrogate etc. This baby hasn't even been seen by the public for them to have an opinion on her.
Notice how illegitimacy throughout the centuries has been used as a political weapon and only used when someone had something to gain or had to discredit someone. You would think that illegitimacy accusations would be have ended in the 17th and 18th centuries, yet here we are in 2021 and those same accusations are being thrown out. You would think that the idea a woman has to have witnesses watching her give birth would be a ridiculous concept today, but it's still a weapon being used to discredit and to try and deprive children of their place in the succession. We like to think that we have evolved but the truth is the same arguments, accusations and political weapons used from the medieval period to the early modern period are just as rampant today. No one was asking who was in the birthing room witnessing Prince George, Princess Charlotte or Prince Louisâ births. But they demand to know who witnessed the births of Archie and Lilibet? What could the difference be I wonder?
There have been and still are petitions for The Queen to deprive Prince Harry and Meghan of their titles. There are also calls for The Queen to boot Harry and his children out of the line of succession, as though The Queen can just decide she doesnât like her grandson and great grand children and can boot them as she chooses. Yeah....that isn't how that works. She canât deprive Harry, Archie or Lilibet of their places in the line of succession any more than she can boot Charles out and make William her heir.
Lastly, Lilibet hasnât âfinallyâ been added to the line of succession. She was 8th in line to throne from the moment she was born. The line of succession being updated on the official royal website has done nothing other than let people know what the line looks like now. The idea that people are losing their minds over the 8th in line having her place when the likely hood of her ever-becoming Queen is next to none is just petty and is simply based on racism, xenophobia and bullying.
