Calls to change centuries

Release time：2024-06-03 19:43:07 Source：Culture Capsule news portal

The upcoming wedding of the Duke of Westminster to fiancee Olivia Henson has resulted in renewed calls to change the law that means firstborn daughters will not inherit titles over their younger brothers.

The laws of primogeniture - which have existed for centuries - means that the eldest son will always inherit the title after the death of their father, even over their older sisters.

Campaigners have reignited calls for a change in the law, highlighting the current rules could impact the future children of the Duke of Westminster and his fiancee Olivia Henson, who will marry on June 7.

Only if a private members bill proposed by Harriett Baldwin - the Hereditary Titles (Female Succession) Bill - is passed will their first child, if she is a girl, will inherit the Westminster title from her father.

The ancient laws will instead mean that the aristocratic couple's title will instead skip past their eldest child and instead to the first son the couple bear.

The 7th Duke of Westminster Hugh Grosvenor with his fiancee Olivia Henson

If the couple's firstborn is a girl, she will not inherit the title if she has a younger brother

But if the bill is passed, firstborn daughters will be treated equally to firstborn sons when it comes to inheritance.

The bill proposed by Ms Baldwin has received the support of several MPs including Philip Davies, the Telegraph reports.

It was due for a second reading in February but it ran out of time, so will have to be re-submitted to parliament after the election on July 4.

The Duke of Westminster, who is a friend of the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Sussex, as well as Princes George and Archies godfather, inherited the title from his father after his death in 2016.

Along with the title came 140,000 acres of land in Oxfordshire, Cheshire, Lancashire and Scotland - and another 300 in Mayfair and Belgravia.

The Duke is thought to be worth £10.127billion.

The Cabinet Office and a large number of 92 male hereditary peers in the House of Lords have prevented earlier tries at changing the inheritance laws, causing anger among the women who could inherit them.

Charlotte Carew Pole, who runs campaign organisation Daughter's Rights, wants to change the male primogeniture laws, telling the Telegraph that the law was 'fundamental inequality' that would lead to outrage in other areas of society.

Charlotte Carew Pole, who runs campaign organisation Daughter's Rights, wants to change the male primogeniture laws, telling the Telegraph that the law was 'fundamental inequality' that would lead to outrage in other areas of society

She said that the Muslim community discriminating against their daughters would be condemned but it that it is deemed acceptable 'because it involved posh people'.

What is male primogeniture succession?

Male primogeniture succession means that that firstborn daughters of aristocrats do not inherit titles if they have younger brothers.

The laws were enshrined during the medieval period after William the Conqueror invaded Britain.

Hereditary monarchy used the same rules until the law was quickly changed before Prince George was born in 2013.

The Succession to the Crown Act means that had the Prince and Princess of Wales' firstborn been a girl, she would still have been the next in line after William.

But Mrs Carew Pole said it was not and 'can't be tolerated any longer'.

Her daughter Jemima, nine, will not inherit the Pole baronetcy from her father Tremayne, and it will instead go to her younger brother Lucian.

She said that girls were not 'as valued as boys are' and that aristocratic families want 'two sons - an heir and a spare - and the girls are the bit of fluff on the side'.

The aristocrat said her daughter asks 'Why can't I have it?' and 'What's wrong with me?' and that she does not know what to tell her, with the reality being she feels less valued than her brothers.

Lady Tessa, Countess of Balfour, saw her younger brother Edward inherit the Duke of Norfolk title and his seat in Arundel Castle in West Sussex after their father died in 2002.

She was a daughter of a hereditary peer who tried to end the male primogeniture system with action against the government in the European Court of Human Rights in 2018.

Ms Carew Pole told the Telegraph that she hopes the Duke of Westminster supports their fight for equality and supports the private members bill when it comes back to parliament.

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