What would happen if the heir to the British Throne was gay?

[CurlewKate]

I wonder if there are contingency plans. Would he or she appoint an heir? Would there be a King/Queen and a King/Queen Consort? How would the GBP receive the idea? I’m sure that in the past he or she would have been pressured. Into a lavender marriage, but pretty sure that wouldn’t happen these days…. Is there any precedent in the House of Lords?

I think for the point of this thought exercise it was a monarch or heir who is openly gay so that the potential succession issues are out in the public domain.

At this point with William, George and two spares it's irrelevant to the line of succession whether William or Charles are gay.

The Church of England may want a word of course, but wouldn't affect succession.

Yes. I was imagining an openly gay couple.

And in the unlikely event that either Charles or William are gay then one hopes that the next generation are treated better.

If they didn't have children it would pass on to the next in line, probably a sibling. However think a gay marriage would be accepted by many/most, especially as the soonest it could be would be 20 years in the future (if prince George grew up to be gay, then married in his 30's), but quite possibly generations away, if the Royals are even still going. Once the marriage was accepted then don't think them having a child through done IVF (if female) or surrogacy (if male) would be a problem from a succession point of view, as long as it had DNA from the born royal parent, not their husband/wife.

Yes well done. I can’t remember exactly, was it Richard I?
King James I(VI if Scotland), was also reputedly gay.

It was Edward II. But the two you mentioned were both reputedly gay.

You have completely misunderstood Irish politics. Leo Varadker was certainly not pro women and the constitutional changes would have significantly weakened the role of women .

Yes, you are completely misunderstanding Irish politics!!

Thank you, @Anotherpringleand @RecoIIectionsMayVary- I thought it was just a matter of broadening the definition of marriage, and removing references to women’s “duties” in the home. I’ll do some more reading!

just spent ages reading about edward ii after this thread, and edward iii and joan of the tower, queen of scotland , a rabbit hole!

Yes, that’s where I’m going when I’ve finished with Leo Veradker….

The line of succession is clear, if the monarch has no dc its siblings then their dc, happened many times

why is andrew's name mentioned and not Ann's?

i guess he was 2nd in line when born and is now 8th

Anne is in the line of succession at #18, after all Andrew's grandchildren, Edward, and Edward's children. The law change that puts Charlotte at #3 rather than behind her little brother Louis was specifically written to not be retrospective so it doesn't apply to Anne. But Anne's children and Grandchildren still come before any of Princess Margaret's descendants.

I’ve often wondered if Andrew is gay, he’s never had a long term dp after Fergie and she when asked for advice to people marrying after her divorce said ‘know your man.’
She also had her debts paid off.
V. strange.

He's not gay. Writing what he is on a public forum would probably get someone in trouble, but a lot of money was paid for the various allegations against him to go away (see his wikipedia article)

Pretty sure he’s not gay. I don’t think that’s the reason he doesn’t have a long term partner.

Yep.

Well if you disregard the issue / children bit , Charles was married in a register office with a Church blessing (which would be available to a gay King or Queen assuming they had a priest willing to do the blessing ) and he's head of the CofE so maybe not insurmountable.

The CofE does not recognise or bless gay marriages. The ex Archbishop said in an interview recently that they can bless the individuals but not the union…..

Ah OK, thanks. I know DS has been to 2 blessings in a church for gay couples but I wasn't there but one was an Oxford College chapel rather then a "regular" church. I don't know if that makes a difference. I'll ask DS about these.
Or professor google tells me the Scottish Churches allow it - so if it's good enough for Anne .....😊

Source here ( but from Nov. 2023. ) www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-67432854

Just to add - I know KCIII is not Head of the Scottish Churches so I'm not sure that point is relevant. More dimness from Ms Stare at the back. I'll be interested to hear the general wording of the blessings he went to I presume from your post it was a not blessing of the union but of the individuals.

Yes, Richard 1 was reputedly gay. Many drawbacks as a King, but he was also regarded as a brilliant military leader and strategist as well as personally extremely brave and efffective in battle. He was leading his own army at 16.

Thought I'd leave this as a contrast to some of the homophobic stereotyping on the other thread about glitter, rainbows etc.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b079pr90

I listen to this and it suggests he perhaps wasn't gay - but who knows but he lived an interesting life.

The modern interptation of bed sharing with King Philip II of France are probably a cultural misunderstanding and they weren't having sex more showing they were friends - which cause issues as Richard Mum had once been queen of france and his parents owned more of France than the French king at the time.

I did find out he didn't want to marry his first betrothed because she likely slept with his dad Henry II but he had no kids with second wife though seems to had one illegitimate child Philip of Cognac and there are contempory account of relationship with women on campaigns. His sexuality a matter of debate by historians - has whole section to debate on his wikipedia page.