Gender Equality: Monarchy

Sons and daughters in the monarchy now have equal rights to the throne. 16 leaders of Commonwealth countries approved the change unanimously at a summit in Perth, Australia.

This means that if the highly publicized couple William & Kate have a daughter first, she will be able to obtain the throne even if they have a son later. BBCNews

Personally, I cannot believe it has taken this long. The idea that a younger son would inherit the throne simply because he is male is ludicrous.

According to MailOnline:

• The ancient rules of royal succession have handed men the balance of power for hundreds of years.
• If the new rules had been in force in 1509 Margaret Tudor would have taken the throne instead of Henry VIII. That could have meant the Reformation would never have taken place and Elizabeth I would never have been Queen.
• If the practice had been changed as recently as the last century, Britain could have had two Queen Victorias back to back.
• Princess Victoria, the Princess Royal would have acceded to the throne in 1901 instead of King Edward VII.
• When she died just a few months later, her son Kaiser Wilhelm II would have ascended the throne – something which could have prevented the First World War.
• The Queen of England now would have been the completely unknown Princess Marie Cecile of Prussia

It will be interesting to see how the monarchy's new equality will shape history from this point forward. The recent changes display why something should not stay enacted simply because it is tradition.