Who will succeed Queen Elizabeth II as the U.K.’s next monarch?

The question of royal succession has been on many minds worldwide after news broke earlier today that Queen Elizabeth II, 96, is under medical supervision, and the situation is described as “serious.” With the situation looking grim, it leaves questions about the throne’s passing to its new heir. Naturally, the title should move to her eldest son, Prince Charles, but there has been speculation that he will abdicate the crown. 

Last year, The Daily Star reported that Charles doesn’t want to be king. The information came from the late Lady Diana’s former voice coach and confidante, Stewart Pearce, who told the publication that the Prince of Wales did not want the “difficult task” of taking the throne. 

If Charles does indeed turn down the kingship, it would then pass to the Duke of Cambridge, Prince William. Per Daily Star’s 2021 interview, Pearce elaborated:

“She [the Queen] is preparing to leave, and when she leaves, the whole psycho-physical nature of monarchy will change. And who knows? Constitutional law may be rewritten. He [Charles] may not take the throne, he may hand it to his young son. […] He doesn’t want to do it…such a difficult task.”

Of course, this is speculation on Pearce’s behalf, but it does raise eyebrows given the current circumstances. This hasn’t happened since 1936 when King Edward VIII ruled for less than a year. According to History, he had inherited the throne after the passing of his father, King George V. When the prime ministers of the United Kingdom condemned his proposed marriage to an American divorcee, Wallis Simpson, he handed the crown to his brother, George VI, who ruled from 1936 until his death in 1952, at which point Elizabeth II was proclaimed the new monarch.