Why Princess Charlotte has a better chance of securing this prestigious position than Princess Anne ever will

There’s an intriguing reason why Princess Charlotte has a better chance of securing this prestigious position than Princess Anne ever will.

• The Prince and Princess of Wales’ daughter technically has a much greater chance of becoming the UK’s monarch than her great-aunt.
• The Princess Royal was pushed down the line of succession by her younger brothers and their descendants, but Princess Charlotte wasn’t. 
• This royal news comes as Prince William hinted at a dreamy destination for a future Wales family trip during an overseas visit. 

Princess Charlotte might only be eight years old but she’s already said to share many similarities with the Princess Royal. Princess Charlotte and Princess Anne are alike in a funny way and Prince George and Princess Charlotte’s intriguing dynamic could be seen to echo that of Princess Anne and King Charles growing up. Both royals are also their royal parents’ only daughters and it’s been suggested that one day the Prince and Princess of Wales’ daughter could be bestowed with the Princess Royal title. However, Princess Charlotte has a better chance of securing another prestigious position than her great-aunt ever will…

Princess Charlotte is third in the royal line of succession behind her older brother Prince George but remains ahead of her younger brother Prince Louis. This might not initially seem surprising but it’s a huge change to a former royal rule which still impacts Princess Anne. Despite being the second of the late Queen Elizabeth’s children, she’s only 17th in line to the throne.

Both of her younger siblings, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward, and their children and grandchildren are ahead of her. The law ensuring royal women would no longer be leapfrogged in the succession by younger brothers only came into effect in 2013 with the Succession to the Crown Act, but it applies to those born after 28 October 2011, which Princess Anne was not. 

This sadly means that the law change didn’t make any difference to her directly, but it did secure Princess Charlotte’s place above Prince Louis as his older sister. This means that Princess Charlotte has a better chance of becoming Queen than her great-aunt as she’ll remain higher in the succession throughout her life than Princess Anne has and will.

Princess Anne would only become Queen Regnant after all of her brothers and their many generations of descendants, while for Princess Charlotte until Prince George has children she’ll remain immediately behind him as an heir. The idea of either of them becoming Queen, though, currently seems very unlikely.

Meanwhile, whilst technically Princess Charlotte has a better chance of taking on the role of Queen than her great-aunt, she’s also likely to take on another role Princess Anne currently has. 

King Charles restored Princess Anne’s prestigious role as Counsellor of State in 2022 in a move that could be seen to showcase his immense trust in her. Traditionally only the monarch’s spouse and the first four adult royals in the succession are Counsellors and they're appointed to act in His Majesty’s place if he’s temporarily unable to undertake his duties, for example if he's ill or abroad.

His Majesty requested that both Princess Anne and Prince Edward should also be his Counsellors despite them being pushed down the succession over the years. When Prince George takes the throne in future, unless he has four children over the age of 21 by this time, Princess Charlotte would be amongst his four Counsellors of State given how high up she would still be in the line of succession.