Q If Edward VIII had not abdicated and remained King until his death, but had still died childless, would Queen Elizabeth II still have been our present monarch? - Yvonne Scullion, North Yorkshire.

A Edward VIII (born 1895) was the eldest son of George V and became King in January 1936 on the death of his father.

However, as is well known, a constitutional crisis arose in the November of that year, as a result of the king's desire to marry the American divorcee Mrs Wallis Warfield (Simpson). In December 1936, Edward abdicated and was given the title of Duke of Windsor and lived in France until his death in 1972.

When Edward abdicated, his younger brother, George VI - who was born in 1895 - succeeded him as king. King George VI reigned until his death in 1952 and thus died 20 years before his elder brother. When George died, his daughter Elizabeth succeeded as Queen (Elizabeth II).

Edward and George had a younger sister called Mary, the Princess Royal (1897-1965) and three younger brothers - Henry Duke of Gloucester (1900-1974), George Duke of Kent (1902-1942) and Prince John (1905-1919) who died while a teenager. Apart from John, all have descendants who are included in the line of succession to the throne.

If we were to rewrite history so that Edward VIII reigned as king until his death in 1972, but still died childless, Elizabeth would have succeeded him as queen. This is of course assuming that George VI died in 1952 and that Elizabeth had no brothers.

Following the rules of succession, if Edward had reigned as king and died without children, the throne would pass to George, but if George was already dead it would pass to George's eldest male child. If there were no male children, it would pass to the eldest female. The result is that we would still have Elizabeth II.

I think confusion arises because male heirs do take some precedence over females in the royal line of succession. However, Edward and George's younger brothers were always further down the line of succession than George's two children even though both were girls - Elizabeth and Margaret. This is because the male precedence only comes into force in the case of brothers and sisters.

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Published 08/07/2002