The new royal princess is two days old. She was born in London on May 2nd to the Duchess of Cornwall and her husband Prince William. She is their second child. Their first child, George, is 21 months old. The new baby is 4th in line to the throne. A new law means that a female can inherit the throne in exactly the same way as a male. Queen Elizabeth I and II only became queen because their fathers (Henry VIII, and George VI respectively) had no sons.
When Queen Elizabeth II (the second) dies, her eldest son Charles will become king. He will be Charles III (the third). When Charles dies, his son William will become king, King William IV (the fourth). William now is 2nd in line to the throne, his son George is 3rd in line and now his new daughter is 4th in line to the throne. When George becomes king, he will be King George VII. In the future, if he marries and has children, his oldest child will be the next king or queen after George VII dies. However if he dies before he has children, his sister will be queen.
Queen Elizabeth is not only the Queen of the United Kingdom, she is also Queen of New Zealand and other countries in the Commonwealth. However, if New Zealand decides to become a republic, we would have a president not a monarch (a king or queen). The monarch has no political powers but performs many ceremonial functions. Many people are royalists which means they love the royal family and get excited about a new baby princess. Other people are republicans and are not very interested in royalty.
Note:
1. Roman numerals are used to show the first, the second etc for kings and queens.
2. ‘in line to the throne” is an idiom; it suggests a queue but it’s an imaginary queue.
3. When referring to a king or queen, no capital letter is used but if the person has a name e.g. King George, then a capital letter is used.
4. “elder”, “eldest” are now rather formal and old-fashioned. They mean the same as “older”, “oldest”.
5. Although first conditional using present tense is used here in paragraph 2, it would be possible to use past tense e.g. If he died before he had children, his sister would be queen.
Vocabulary
• the throne – the title of king or queen
• inherit – receive the title, be the heir to the throne
• respectively – Elizabeth I’s father was Henry VIII; Elizabeth II’s father was George VI
• ceremonial functions e.g. perform ceremonies, meet foreign leaders etc.
Questions
Do you have a monarch or a president in your country? What powers do they have? Can they make laws? Are they elected or do they inherit the title?