The Rightful British Heir by Bloodline

Franz, Duke of Bavaria

The British monarchy has gone a long way since William of Normandy defeated the last Anglo-Saxon King of England, Harold II, in the 11th century. 

It had navigated successfully the test of times, passed through many conflicts, tension and succession disputes and conquered many battles including the Hundred Years of War and Wars of the Roses.

Since the 11th century, the law of succession followed a male-preference primogeniture where males were always ahead in the line of succession that the females. 

In 2013, the century-old tradition was repealed. Perhaps in response to the call of times where many European royal houses made a makeover in its succession law and adopted the lineal or absolute law of succession where monarchs' daughters are no longer pushed aside by their brothers.

In the United Kingdom it was not done retroactively like in Sweden, The law will only take effect for royal children born in 2013. However, it made sweeping changes on royals who are marrying Roman Catholics. 

In the previous succession laws, any royals who are eligible to succeed should not take a Catholic spouse or they should be removed in the line of succession. In the current law, they no longer be removed, however, if they switched religion and becomes a Catholic, they will be ultimately removed.

The current British monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, has been on the throne since 1952. She is the longest reigning monarch in the United Kingdom and the longest reigning sovereign in the world. And currently, the longest-serving Head of State.

The Queen's Destiny

However, it's interesting to note that the Queen, by bloodline, is not actually the rightful British heir. There's someone in the continent who has a strongest claim on the British throne than the current Windsor family.

This is an interesting subject that rarely discussed in public. 

Tracing her blood line and birth circumstances, the Queen was not expected to ascend the British throne, at least at the time of her birth in 1926. Her Majesty, who is now 94 years old was born as an eldest child of then Prince Bertie, the Duke of York, the second son of King George V, who himself the second son of King Edward VII and was not also expected to ascend the British throne had his older brother, Prince Victor, Duke of Clarence, lived.

King George V's heir-apparent was Prince David, the flamboyant Prince of Wales who loved to create controversies in his time. When George V died, David immediately ascended the throne as Edward VIII, but before he could be formally crowned, he abdicated to marry a twice divorced American commoner, Wallis Simpson, whom his parents referred as his "unholy lover". 

Not only the woman was American, she was a commoner and divorce, circumstances that were deemed improper for someone to marry into the British royal family. By royal standard, Wallis was not considered suitable for a Queen Consort role.

Bertie unexpectedly picked up the tarnished crown left by his love-struck brother, and  reigned as King George VI. He managed to serve the throne with devotion and honor. However, his eldest daughter, still was not considered as heir-apparent. 

The succession law in Britain at that time was following a male-preference primogeniture succession, Elizabeth was only considered heir-presumptive, meaning only a conditional heir to the throne. If her parents will produce a male heir, she and her descendants would be placed lower in the line of succession. 

Fortunately, Prince Bertie and his wife, Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, did not have children following the birth of their second daughter, Princess Margaret, paving the way for Princess Elizabeth to inherit the British throne.

The Exclusion of Roman Catholics

The path to the throne for Queen Elizabeth II was carved out of these two eventful circumstances: The exclusion of Roman Catholics in the line of succession and the death of Princess Charlotte of Wales in 1817.

During the reign of Queen Anne, who would become the last monarch under the royal house of Stuart, The Act of Settlement of 1701 was passed by the parliament to settle the dispute on succession and to prevent any Roman Catholic claimant from succeeding the throne.

Queen Anne, who succeeded her childless sister, Mary Stuart, had no legitimate heirs. All her children died in infancy. Mary and Anne reigned in England due to the expulsion of their father, King James II, from the throne. He was a Roman Catholic and his son, the Prince of Wales, was raised a Catholic.

The English ministers feared that Roman Catholicism will be restored in England if James's son will inherit the throne, and might repeat the bloody religious conflicts between Protestants and Catholics during the reign of Queen Mary I (Mary Tudor). They forced James II to abdicate and gave the throne to his protestant daughter, Mary, and her husband, William of Orange.

King James II, his second wife, Mary of Modena, and their son, supposed to be the rightful heir, Charles Edward, fled to France for safety. They were prohibited from entering England again.

However, Queen Mary II and King William III had no surviving children, the throne passed to Mary's sister, Anne who was raised an Anglican. Her husband was Prince George of Denmark, but the couple had no surviving children. All died in infancy.

This gave the kingdom a tense moment to decide who would inherit the throne after Queen Anne. The most legitimate successor would be her brother, Charles Edward. Who was living in exile and had no intention to renounce his Roman Catholic belief.

Charles Edward spent his entire life pressing his claim to the British throne, insisting his birthright and right to succeed The Jacobite Uprising was organized on his behalf but they were defeated and failed.

To settle the dispute and to prevent further conflicts, the parliament passed The Act of Settlement of 1701, restricting the line of succession to the protestant heirs of King James I. This act recognized Princess Sophia, the wife of Ernest Augustus, the Elector of Hanover, as the successor of Queen Anne.

Who is Sophia, the Electress of Hanover

Hopes of the English ministers to convince Queen Anne's brother, Charles Edward, to convert to Anglican and inherit the British throne was dashed. The Prince of Wales, who was living in France and then Rome, refused to abandon his Roman Catholic belief.

This prompted the parliament to pass The Act of Settlement of 1701 to prevent Charles Edward and his descendants and all the Roman Catholic descendants of Charles I to mount the British throne. This act recognized Princess Sophia, the Electress of Hanover, to be the next monarch.

Princess Sophia was the daughter of Princess Elizabeth, eldest daughter of King James I of England and Princess Anne of Denmark. She married Frederick V of the Palatinate and Princess Sophia was their youngest daughter.

The Elector and Electress of Hanover had seven children, the eldest being Prince George. Before The Act of Settlement of 1701 was passed, Princess Sophia was far below in the line of succession to the British throne, placing below the descendants of King Charles I, her maternal uncle.




However, the remaining descendants of King Charles I, including his youngest child, Princess Henrietta, and her descendants, were Roman Catholics which made them ineligible to succeed.

Princess Sophia would have been the next British Queen but she predeceased Queen Anne by two months paving the way for her eldest son, George, who would become King George I (the first Hanoverian King of England), to succeed the throne after Anne.

The Rightful British Heir

Had Catholics were not barred from succeeding the British throne in the 17th century, the throne would pass to the descendants of Princess Henrietta, the youngest daughter of Charles I, who married the Duke of Orleans. And eventually to their direct descendant, Prince Franz, the Duke of Bavaria. the current head of the House of Wittelsbach in Germany. 

Franz is the senior male descendant of King Charles I of England through his youngest child, Princess Henrietta, and therefore the rightful British heir by virtue of birth right. 

Pretender to the British Throne

Born Franz Bonaventura Adalbert Maria Herzog von Bayern on July 14, 1933 in Munich, Germany, Prince Franz, the Duke of Bavaria is the current head of the House of Wittelsbach, the ruling family of the now defunct Kingdom of Bavaria.

His parents were Prince Albrecht, Duke of Bavaria, the grandson of the last Bavarian monarch, King Ludwig III, and Countess Maria Draskovich. He has two older sisters and a younger brother, Prince Max, the father of Princess Sophie, Hereditary Princess of Liechtenstein.

Prince Franz is now 86 years old and has never married. Therefore, no direct descendants. His heir-apparent both to the House of Wittelsbach and the Jacobite succession to the thrones of England and Scotland is Prince Max. 

The rightful British heir, Prince Franz

Asking about his opinion over his right to the British throne, his staff made it clear the duke has no interest to press his claim on the British monarchy and already contented being the Duke of Bavaria. 

Prince Franz. an avid art collector, lived in splendid, magical castles and palaces in Germany. Nymphenburg Palace in Munich, Berg Castle and Hohenschwangau Castle in the countryside of Bavaria as his country retreat. The breathtaking Neuschwanstein Castle, Germany's fairy tale castle, was constructed during the reign of his great uncle, King Ludwig II of Bavaria.

After the death of Queen Anne on August 1, 1714, the throne passed to her nearest protestant relative, Prince George of Hanover, who became King George I. It was in this blood line that Queen Elizabeth II descended. Her great-great grandmother, Queen Victoria, was the granddaughter of George's grandson, King George III.

Nymphenburg Palace, the current residence of Prince Franz

The New Succession Law


When the British succession law was repealed in 2013, then British Prime Minister Gordon Brown planned to scrap the restriction on Catholic succession. This is to heal the division and discrimination on religion imposed on the British throne.

The United Kingdom is the only country in Europe that imposed on Catholic religion as hindrance to throne succession. However, had the religion aspect was scrapped, it would create a terrible consequence on the line of succession.

It will pave the way for Prince Franz to resume the claim on the throne by virtue of bloodline. And would place him and his brother Prince Max ahead of Queen Elizabeth II's family.

Thus, it was believed, the restriction on Catholics, kept in place. This would effectively prevent Prince Franz and his brother from claiming the British throne.