Could an illegitimate child take the throne?

[SleepingStandingUp]

Just idle musings.

If a woman came forward and declared she'd had a fling with William at Uni and her (now adult) child was his, would he be next in line to the throne after Wills or would they be able to discount him? Assuming she could prove it of course and whilst the Royals try to say nothing, I imagine a woman with a say 20 yo son who looks the spit of William who can prove she knew him at the time would be hard to just ignore?

My eldest is younger than Charlotte so no secrets to expose on This Morning, just brain wandering..

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Love this!

I'm sure there have been various rumours of illegitimate children for various royals - can't remember if it was Prince Harry or Prince Andrew, but someone told me one of their aides has the job of picking up stray hairs and wiping drinks glasses so that rogue journalists can't get hold of samples of their DNA. Probably a load of rubbish though! 😁

I've wondered about this in the context of Edwards DCs.

There was talk of them being iVF babies. I imagine dna tests were done after their births to check there hadn't been a mix up and the wrong sperm/ embryos put in Sophie's uterus.

Wasn’t there a rumour that Edward IV was the illegitimate son of an French archer rather than Richard, Duke of York’s son?

I reckon if Henry Fitzroy had survived then he'd have had a decent chance of the throne.

Don't forget that Mary I and Elizabeth I were also illegitimate because their parent's marriages were annulled.
That's why Edward left the throne to Jane Grey, who was the nearest legitimate heir.

Definitely agree Henry Fitzroy was in with a chance. Henry VIII was already discussing legitimising him in 1536. Had he done so and Fitzroy lived, then what with the future Edward VI born in 1537, that would have stirred up a whole hornets’ nest. As it was, both died before they were out of their teens. If both men had lived into adulthood though…

@NextPrimeMinister yes, Simon Doran-Day, he's the child of Camilla and Charles, Charles would have been just 18 when Simon was conceived. Simon looks just like a merger of Charles and Camilla. He is from the UK but grew up in Australia with former staff members from the palace, who adopted him. I think he is genuine and it all adds up. However, he was born out of wedlock, anyone born out of wedlock has no right to the throne, no matter the strength of their bloodline, their illigitamacy rules them out of any claim they may want to/ think they have.

As I understand it; Illegitimate children can inherit an estate (money or land) equally, that is a fairly recent change in the law.
They cannot inherit a title though.

Yes. If nobody knew they were illegitimate or those that did kept quiet.

Elizabeth I and Mary I are the best examples. If there isn't a plausible legitimate option, your bloodline is clear, and you've got a decent power base behind you then anything is possible.

William the Conqueror was illegitimate. That’s why he had to invade with an army and take the throne by force. He was called William the Bastard before he did the conquering thing and rebranded himself.

Not only do they have to be born legitimately, but they have to be born into an approved marriage (William got the Queen’s permission to marry Catherine, same with Harry to Meghan).

Illegitimate children have in the past been given titles. William IV titled one of his sons Earl of Munster. That title only died out in the last 20ish years when the Earl only had daughters. The Fitzclarence name, given to all of the illegitimate children of William, still carries on.

Henry VIII had a few illegitimate sons but the reason why he had to have so many wives was because he was absolutely desperate to have a son in wedlock.

Mary and Elizabeth were de-legitimised until Catherine Park convinced Henry VIII to restore them to the succession.

The First Succession Act 1533 had removed Mary from the succession and put Elizabeth as heir. The Second Succession Act 1536 then removed Elizabeth as well. The Third Succession Act of 1543 confirmed Edward as Henry's successor, but also returned both Mary and Elizabeth to the line of succession.

So they were not illegitimate at the time of Henry VIIIs death, or Edward VI for that matter. Edward VI excluded his half-sisters on religious grounds as he was strongly Protestant while Mary I was catholic and Elizabeth was tolerant of both.

Parr not Park. Autocorrect

I often think this. There must be lots of people wandering around completely unaware that they have Royal DNA and in theory, with as much claim to the throne as the current Royal family. Before contraceptives arrived it must have been a fairly normal occurrence.

I find it hard to believe that if that guy really is Charles and Camilla’s secret son they would stay silent all this time. They seem like the sort of people to want to do the decent thing. After Tampongate, divorce and remarriage would anyone really be shocked by this?

There was a woman in South Africa who claimed to be the love child of Princess Margaret and Peter Townsend. Anthony Armstrong Jones fathered a child with his best friend’s wife just before he married Margaret and it didn’t come out til years later. And of course, all those rumours about Lord Porchester.

Prince Phillip must have a couple of secret kids knocking about, although they would have no claim to the throne.

Wasn't Henry vii illegitimate or descended from an illegitimate son or something like that? His claim to the throne was considered quite dubious but he had a very pushy mother who was determined to get him on it.

Just checked, his father was illegitimate until Parliament declared him legitimate when he was 22.

So I guess Parliament would decide.

I think the risk factor of it - I mean there’s no way the British public would be as shrugging shoulders as the Monegasques for example - is why so many royal men in particular had affairs with married women.

Then any accidental offspring wouldn’t cause any issues at all as they’d just be accepted as a product of their mother’s marriage.

Things only tend to go public if they go against their agreements - like happened with Mark Phillips and the child he fathered while married to Princess Anne. He got away with that for several years until he started playing silly buggers over money

Yes, quite 😂 anyone illegitimate in an era where this was acceptable doesn't count lol. I'm watching Last Kingdom and the bastards abound freely but they can fight for their right to rule so I don't care.

I'm thinking yes like the Aussie guy who claims to be the son of the Kind and Queen and way older than Wills

I loved The Last Kingdom. Uhtred is just divine.

Adopted children are given the same titles and honours as other younger children (even if the adopted one is the eldest) but can’t inherit the main estate.

Nah. (Unless parliament agrees I think) The royals have been putting it about for centuries. The number of illegitimate offspring is why they set all the rules in the first place.

Not long til the movie. I want Finnan tho

Yes I imagine anyone too close to the line would be dissuaded from adopting certainly without a child or two born ahead