By Lucy Caulkett-
Royal inheritance should not leave women out, in the way the daughter of the late Duke of Edinborough was left out.
25 year old Hugh’s Grovesnor is the main royal beneficiary of his father’s inheritance- the billionaire land owner, Gerald Grosvenor, who died at 64 years of age. He will inherit $9.9bn
Because of the primogeniture , his three sisters, Tamara, 36, Edwina, 34, and Vioala, 23 are set to only inherit considerable trust funds.
Under traditional centuries old common law principles of primogeniture– a feudal law in which the male heir inherits the entire estate, not just the title. The discriminatory nature of the law viewed from prism of modern day development was found to be unfair, and changed following campaigning for equality by female aristocrats including Lady Clare Kerr, the elder daughter of veteran Tory politician, Michael Ancrsm, Marquess of Lothian, and writer and artist Lady Lisza Campbell.
Their vigorous campaign led to the introduction of the Succession of the Crown Act before the birth of Prince George, Hugh’s Grandson. Whilst the act now means that the first born child, whatever their gender, will inherit the throne, it only applies to children born after 2011.
The law wasn’t backdated in order not to appear to undermine the old law, but the equality of treatment objective it aims to achieve, means it should have done precisely that. The goal of achieving equality should necessarily apply to women born in any year, in order to rectify the sexual discriminatory basis on which it was made.
There is a cogent argument for saying that traditional rules need to be reviewed to embrace changing times and address the issue of discrimination that formed the basis of the archaic law.