A prince changes centuries of royal history in surprise move

In a surprise move, the royal family of Liechtenstein has announced a major change to the rules governing the dynasty

Prince Alois, regent and heir to the throne, said that from now on the country would adopt absolute primogeniture, meaning that women at last gain succession rights in the little nation.

Until now, men always outranked women in the line to the throne. .

As of now, Liechtenstein will have absolute primogeniture which means that all babies born into the royal dynasty can succeed and their place in the line to the throne is determined by birth order.

However, it won’t be made retrospective which means that no princesses will suddenly leapfrog princes in the current succession.

It will be the families of the children of Alois and his wife, Sophie, that will see the changes fully implemented.

Prince Alois and Princess Sophie have four children. Their eldest, and second in line to the throne, is Prince Joseph Wenzel, 31.Their only daughter, Princess Marie Caroline, is a year younger than her brother so couldn’t have outranked him under the new rules.

Alois and Sophie have two younger sons. Prince Georg was born in 1999 while the last of their children is Prince Nikolaus, born in 2000.

The change to the succession laws was announced on August 15 as Liechtenstein celebrated its national day.

Prince Alois said it would ensure that the best prepared person took the throne in the future.

His father, Prince Hans-Adam, is still the reigning prince but handed over day to day running of the nation to his eldest son in 2004, the same year that the UN Human Rights Committee criticised the country about its succession laws which then excluded women totally.

Technically, women could only succeed to the throne if the male line was completely extinct, a rule brought in over a century ago to ensure that there would always be an heir.

Liechtenstein is now in line with most other European monarchies who have nearly all moved to absolute primogenture in the past years.

In the UK, the rule meaning women couldn’t be outranked by men was brought in back in 2012, ahead of the birth of the first baby of William and Catherine, now Prince and Princess of Wales. It means that their daughter, Princess Charlotte, couldn’t be leapfrogged in the succession by her younger brother, Prince Louis. However, it wasn’t made retrospective either so Princess Anne remained behind her two younger brothers in the line of succession.

Only two European countries now prefer men to women in succession laws. In Monaco, male primogeniture continues and means that the eldest of the twins born to Prince Albert and Princess Charlene is second in line to her younger brother. Princess Gabriella was born several minutes ahead of Prince Jacques but he became heir to the throne.

Male primogeniture also continues in Spain but at the moment, isn’t an issue as King Felipe and Queen Letizia only have daughters and so their eldest, Princess Leonor, remains heir. However, if they were to have a son, he would still overtake Leonor as first in line.

The wife of Alois, Princess Sophie, also has a strange succession claim herself. She is currently second in line in the Jacobin succession to the British crown, traced through the descendants of James II who was forced to abdicate his crown by his daughter, Mary II and his son-in-law, William III.