Prince Charles to marry Camilla Parker-Bowles

[Peter]

He'll never get to be King anyway: Parliament will simply invoke its rights under the Succession Act and skip over him in the succession - that sort of thing used to happen all the time before the War of the Roses.

[Peter]

The first time there was a collection of Commoners in the Parliament was in 1295. People were often passed over for the Throne in the line of succession because of disputes between Royals (esp. Father and Son) and also disputed successions that often ended in Civil War.

I always thought this would be illegal (or cost him the crown) unless Mr Parker-Bowles dies first?

It is. Parliament intends to repeal the Law; I've *heard* that some MPs want to saber rattle over this which could be interesting.

[Peter]

P.S. Does any one know if kids who are born illegitimately and their parents later marry, does this legitimise them?

I have some knowledge of this issue from some cursory knowledge of probate law that I have.

Under British Probate Law (until 1969), an illegitimate child of a man was not a child at all under the Law, whereas the illegitimate child of a woman was a child under the Law.

If the father and mother subsequently married, this still did not make the father the Legal father (at least as far as probate law is concerned, other aspects of the Law may have been different). The father would have to legally adopt the child for it to be considered legally his child.

Probate Law does now recognise illegitimate children in both cases, though I don't think it applies to claims to Royal (or other Noble) titles.