The Third Act of Succession



The Third Act of Succession was an Act  of the National Council and the Privy Council that settled the succession to the Welsh crown, by limited the succession to the descendants of Queen Anne I of Wessex and Prince George Bagration, The Duke of Uxbridge and St. Andrews. The Third Act of Succession was up until Queen Anne II of Wessex the lawful Act that listed which inidividuals have a right of inheritance to the throne, it was replaced by The Fourth Act of Succession.

The act was prompted to end the claims of other legitimate descendants of King George I of Wessex who could opposse a Bagartion dynasty in Wessex, and possibly gain support and over throw Queen Anne and her family.

The line of Anne, Princess George Bagration was the next in line to inherit the throne of Wessex, according to the rules and laws established by The Second Act of Succession. Anne wished for her descendants to be the sole heirs of House Beaumont.

Thus at the passing of the Third Act of Succession the individuals who were in line for the throne were Anne's children: Crown Prince William of Wessex, Prince George of Wessex, Princess Mary Catherine of Wessex, and Anne's unborn child who would later be Princess Elizabeth of Wessex. This meant that each individual who was able legally to succeed the throne under the new Act was a minor, and this led to the passage of the Fourth Regency Act around the same time the Act of Succession was signed into law.

Succession Rules
Succession to the Welsh throne is determined by descent, gender, and legitimacy. Under common law, the Crown is inherited by a sovereign's children or by a childless sovereign's nearest collateral line. As established by the Third Act of Succession, only the “heir of the body” of Queen Anne I of Wessex are eligible to succeed the throne, unless otherwise disqualified. The meaning of heir of the body is determined by the common law rules of primogeniture, whereby older children and their descendants inherit before younger children, and a male child takes precedence over a female sibling. Children born out of wedlock and adopted children are not eligible to succeed. Illegitimate children whose parents subsequently marry are legitimated, but remain ineligible to inherit the Crown.

According to the Act, descendants of Queen Anne I and Prince George Bagration, The Duke of Uxbridge and St. Andrews must obtain the permission of the current reigning sovereign to marry. The requirement did not apply to descendants of princesses who married into foreign families. A marriage that contravened the Act was void, and the resulting offspring illegitimate and thus ineligible to succeed, though the succession of the dynast who failed to obtain consent was not itself affected.