The Spectator’s Notes | 23 April 2011

The coalition wants to change the ‘discriminatory’ law of succession and allow any first-born daughter to ascend to the throne.

The coalition wants to change the ‘discriminatory’ law of succession and allow any first-born daughter to ascend to the throne. People witlessly nod their heads at the idea that male primogeniture is an ‘anachronism’. Mr Murdoch’s Sunday Times has decided that such a change would be ‘a perfect wedding present’ for Prince William and Kate Middleton. I think they’d prefer an electric toaster. Why, after all, is primogeniture itself not an anachronism? Why is succession by blood allowed at all? Once you start asking these questions, it is hard to stop; that is what republicans intend. Luckily, our monarchy is constructed not on rationalist principles but by history. History teaches that a hereditary system must be secured by consent. The method of succession does not matter in itself: what matters is that it is agreed.