illegitimate heirs made legitimate

[kingapolloxxxii]

I read over the weekend that with the marriage of Princess Caroline of Monaco/Hanover son Andrea Casiraghi to his longtime girlfriend Tatiana Santo Domingo that their son becomes legitimate and therefore has succession rights to the Monegasque throne;
Does anyone else know of any countries where children are made legitimate after marriage?just curious

[observer]

Sept 3, 2013 4:01:19 GMT kingapolloxxxii said:

I read over the weekend that with the marriage of Princess Caroline of Monaco/Hanover son Andrea Casiraghi to his longtime girlfriend Tatiana Santo Domingo that their son becomes legitimate and therefore has succession rights to the Monegasque throne;
Does anyone else know of any countries where children are made legitimate after marriage?just curious

I believe that this has long been the case in much of Europe, most Commonwealth countries, the USA, and many south American countries, for children to be legitimated on the subsequent marriage of their parents IF the parents were free to marry at the time of the child's birth, i.e., not married to anyone else. This previously happened in Monaco with the two eldest of Princess Stephanie's children, for example.

Legislation in many countries, including much of the UK, Australia, etc., now legitimates a child if its parents subsequently marry whether or not they were married to other people at the time the child was born.

I understand that legitimacy in Muslim countries, when harems were common, depended on recognition by the father.

Of course, nowadays the issue of legitimacy seems to be important only in terms of succession to royal or noble titles - as in Monaco - and citizenship.

[paulchen]

Quite a few members of the Lascelles family (the Earls of Harewood, descendants of HM King George V through his only daughter HRH The Princess Mary, Princess Royal) have been born out of wedlock and subsequently legitimised. They may have then received the title they would have had, had they originally been born in wedlock, but not the rank. Neither do they qualify for the succession to Harewood title nor the UK Throne.

[observer]

Sept 3, 2013 15:20:40 GMT paulchen said:

Quite a few members of the Lascelles family (the Earls of Harewood, descendants of HM King George V through his only daughter HRH The Princess Mary, Princess Royal) have been born out of wedlock and subsequently legitimised. They may have then received the title they would have had, had they originally been born in wedlock, but not the rank. Neither do they qualify for the succession to Harewood title nor the UK Throne.

As I understand it, in the case of Mark Lascelles, he was born in 1964 when his father was still married to his first wife, Marion Stein - they did not divorce till 1967. His parents married in 1967. Therefore, he was not "lawfully begotten" under the terms of the letters patent governing the inheritance of the title.

The original question was just about legitimation on the parents marriage. If we consider the question implicit in the heading, however, I think I concede that the situation of subsequent legitimation in terms of inheriting a throne is limited to Monaco. This is not surprising considering the way in which Rainer III inherited his claim/throne. I can't think of another modern royal family where this occurred.

[observer]

Sept 3, 2013 15:20:40 GMT paulchen said:

Quite a few members of the Lascelles family (the Earls of Harewood, descendants of HM King George V through his only daughter HRH The Princess Mary, Princess Royal) have been born out of wedlock and subsequently legitimised. They may have then received the title they would have had, had they originally been born in wedlock, but not the rank. Neither do they qualify for the succession to Harewood title nor the UK Throne.

With regard to the right of inheritance of various legitimated Lascelles, and others whose parents are in line to titles and/or the throne in Britain, the relevant Acts are those of 1926, 1959, and 1976.

The Legitimacy Act 1926, 10 (1) says, "Nothing in this Act shall affect the Succession to any dignity or title of honour or render any person capable of succeeding to or transmitting a right to succeed to any such dignity or title."

The Legitimacy Act 1959, 6 (4) says, "It is hereby declared that nothing in this Act affects the Succession to the Throne."

The Legitimacy Act 1976 (c. 31) allowed the legitimacy of the child of a putative marriage to apply to titles, honors and dignities, but confirmed that legitimation by subsequent marriage did not ("Apart from section 1, nothing in this Act shall affect the succession to any dignity or title of honor or render any person capable of succeeding to or transmitting a right to succeed to any such dignity or title"), nor did it to the Crown ("It is hereby declared that nothing in this Act affects the Succession to the Throne").

I understand, however, that Scots law does allow succession to a Scots peerage title if one is legitimated in this fashion.

I guess that in other European countries, the subsequent legitimation of children on their parents' marriage would depend on whether or not that marriage received the appropriate approval, .i.e, in many European monarchies, royals need either monarchical (as in the UK and Sweden) and/or government (as in the Netherlands) approval to marry. For the last case, witness the marriage of Prince Friso- his children have no succession rights because his marriage was not approved by the Dutch parliament.

[Ric Gold]

I note that you state (4/9/13)" I understand, however, that Scots law does allow succession to a Scots peerage title if one is legitimated in this fashion."

Can you point me to that legislation. Thank you
Ric Gold

[jade llb]

Yes, I would also like to know the Scottish position and any relevant legislation is someone can help

[hovite]

Scots law is the same as most of Europe on this point, it is English that is different.

The children of Robert II, King of Scots, and Euphemia Ross were legitimated by the subsequent marriage of their parents.

There is more information on the legal background here: www.heraldica.org/topics/royalty/legmatsub.htm