Note 60 — Chapter XVIII · GOVERNMENT UNDER DIFFICULTIES.

If, for example, the Prince of Wales and his children died, the Duke of Edinburgh would have succeeded him. The succession to the English throne, unlike that to most European Sovereignties, is governed by the same law which regulates the succession to all Scottish dignities and most of the very ancient English baronies, namely, descent is to heirs general, male or female; but then all males must be exhausted ere the right of the females accrues. Thus the Duke stood before his elder sisters and their families in the line of succession.