April 30, 2010--New York Royalty

Call me naive, but I always thought that there was just a handful of people in the line of succession to the British throne. The long-suffering and long-enduring Prince Charles, of course; his and Diana's children, William and Henry; and then if I were pushed to think further about it (which is unlikely), Charles' brother Andrew and Andrew's kids.

About a dozen in all. After all, there would have to be a royal holocaust to need more than ten or twelve successors lined up.

But then in preparation for returning to New York City after five calm months in South Frorida, I peeked at the Metropilitan section of Sunday's New York Times and found an article, "Getting the Royal Treatment," (linked below) about a whole lot of European royal descendants in a version of exile, and perhaps waiting, in the city.

Prince Dimitri Karageorgevich from the former Yugoslav royal family and Prince Philippos of Greece; Count Riprand Arco-Zinneberg and his wife Archduchess Maria Beatrice of Austria; and such like.

The article is full of anecdotes about their reduced lives in the Big Apple. How P.D. (as his friends understandably refer to the unpronounceable Prince Karageorgevich) shops at the Food Emporium for his lettuce. And how some are happy to be out from under the burden of royal formality and posturing. In the ultra-democratic New York, Peter Karadordevic, the son of Crown Prince Alexander of Yougoslavia, tries not to flaunt his title or background when working to build a small graphic design business.

So, from this royal reportage, I am reminded about what I will be returning to in In New York in a few days--the pretending, the striving, the rich mix of people and their diverse lives.

But one more thing struck me, it seems that in addition to Prince Charles and his progeny, P.D. is also in the line of succession to the British throne. 1,375th to be exact.

If you check Wikipedia, as I did, you will see that many, many thousands are in that royal queue; and I feel certain that like P.D. they each know exactly where they stand.

For those interested in how these matters work--how one gets on that line--here from Wiki is how it works:

The line of succession is restricted to the heirs of the Electress Sophia of Hanover, as determined by male-preference primogeniture, religion, and legitimate birth:

A person is always immediately followed in the succession by his or her own legitimate descendants (his or her line) except for any legitimate descendants who already appear higher in the line of succession. Birth order and gender matter: older sons (and their lines) come before younger sons (and theirs); a person's sons (and their lines), irrespective of age, all come before his or her daughters (and their lines). (Elder daughters and their lines also take precedence over younger daughters and theirs.)

The monarch must be a Protestant at the time of accession, and enter into communion with the Church of England after accession.

Anyone who is Roman Catholic, becomes Roman Catholic, or marries a Roman Catholic is permanently excluded from the succession.

A person born to parents who are not married to each other at the time of birth (a bastard) is not included in the line of succession. The subsequent marriage of the parents does not alter this. Under British law, a child born to a married woman is assumed to be the child of her husband.

Apart from identifying the next monarch, the line of succession is also used to select the Counsellors of State (and a regent if the need arises) under the provisions of the Regency Act 1937.

From this, I did not have to look too closely at the list of names to see if I was included. But I will be keeping an eye out for P.D. at the Food Emporium.