The Princess Sophia's Precedence Act 1711 (
10 Ann. c. 8) is an
Act of the
Parliament of Great Britain
The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in May 1707 following the ratification of the Acts of Union by both the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. The Acts ratified the treaty of Union which created a new unified Kingdo ...
.
It reiterated the
Act of Settlement 1701
The Act of Settlement is an Act of the Parliament of England that settled the succession to the English and Irish crowns to only Protestants, which passed in 1701. More specifically, anyone who became a Roman Catholic, or who married one, bec ...
, that the
line of succession to the British throne, in the absence of any children of
Queen Anne, passed directly to Electress
Sophia of Hanover
Sophia of Hanover (born Princess Sophia of the Palatinate; 14 October 1630 – 8 June 1714) was the Electress of Hanover by marriage to Elector Ernest Augustus and later the heiress presumptive to the thrones of England and Scotland (later Grea ...
and "the heirs of her body being Protestants". As such, Sophia was
heir presumptive
An heir presumptive is the person entitled to inherit a throne, peerage, or other hereditary honour, but whose position can be displaced by the birth of an heir apparent or a new heir presumptive with a better claim to the position in question.
...
, followed by her children.
This being so, it provided that the formal
order of precedence
An order of precedence is a sequential hierarchy of nominal importance and can be applied to individuals, groups, or organizations. Most often it is used in the context of people by many organizations and governments, for very formal and state o ...
be modified to reflect this; Sophia was given precedence after Queen Anne, followed by her son
George
George may refer to:
People
* George (given name)
* George (surname)
* George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George
* George Washington, First President of the United States
* George W. Bush, 43rd Presiden ...
; any other Protestant heirs of Sophia were to take precedence before the
Archbishop of Canterbury
The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...
, the
great officers of state and the
nobility
Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy (class), aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below Royal family, royalty. Nobility has often been an Estates of the realm, estate of the realm with many e ...
, effectively ranking them with the royal family.
This Act was wholly in force in Great Britain at the end of 2010.
[The Chronological Table of the Statutes, 1235 - 2010. ]The Stationery Office
The Stationery Office (TSO) is a British publishing company created in 1996 when the publishing arm of His Majesty's Stationery Office was privatised. It is the official publisher and the distributor for legislation, command and house papers, s ...
. 2011. . Part I. Page 82, read with pages viii and x.
References
*
Halsbury's Statutes
''Halsbury's Statutes of England and Wales'' (commonly referred to as ''Halsbury's Statutes'') provides updated texts of every Public General Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, Measure of the Welsh Assembly, or Church of England Measur ...
,
External links
The Princess Sophia's Precedence Act 1711 as amended, from
Legislation.gov.uk
legislation.gov.uk, formerly known as the UK Statute Law Database, is the official web-accessible database of the statute law of the United Kingdom, hosted by The National Archives. It contains all primary legislation in force since 1267 and a ...
Great Britain Acts of Parliament 1711
British royalty
Succession to the British crown
Sophia of Hanover
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