Princess Beatrice and her husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi welcomed their first child, a baby girl, on Saturday, which means Princess Eugenie and the royals behind her have fallen a notch in the royal pecking order.
Beatrice’s daughter will now be the 11th in line to the throne of the United Kingdom. This latest change comes four and a half months after the order was changed this summer as a result of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s daughter, Lilibet Diana, being born on June 4th.
Her grandfather, Prince Andrew (No. 9) and her mother, who rounds out the top ten royal successors, are followed by Baby Mozzi, whose name has not yet been revealed.
Prince Charles is first, followed by Prince William and his three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis (Nos. 2–5), and then Harry and his two children, Archie and Liliana (Nos. 6–8). (Nos. 6-8).
Because of his marriage to Beatrice, Edo will never be included in the British line of succession (nor will Beatrice’s mother Sarah Ferguson, William’s wife Kate Middleton, or Meghan), but as a descendant of Italian aristocracy, his and Beatrice’s daughter, as well as any other children they have, will inherit titles (nobile donna for their daughter and count if they have a son).
Count Alessandro Mapelli Mozzi is Edoardo’s father, and as his oldest and only son, Edoardo will inherit the family’s ancestral seat in northern Italy, the 18th-century Villa Mapelli Mozzi palace.
The legal basis for the British line of succession dates back to William III’s reign in the 17th century (otherwise known as William of Orange). It was most recently amended in 2013 to abolish the male primogeniture system, which automatically put male heirs ahead of their sisters in the line of succession.
At the same time, the amendments repealed a long-standing rule that stated that if a royal married a Roman Catholic, their position on the list would be forfeited. The changes took effect in March 2015, but they are only applicable to royal children born after October 28, 2011.
Of course, Beatrice’s daughter’s position in the hierarchy is subject to change, as is that of everyone above her. If any of William and Kate’s children become parents in the future, or if Harry and Meghan have more children, they will fall further down the line of succession.
