How does the line of succession work in England?
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The general rule is that for anyone born *before* November 2011, the oldest male child of the previous monarch inherits or (if they are already dead) their heirs (i.e. oldest male child). If there are no male children left, the oldest female child inherits along with their heirs. If there are no children or descendants at all, it goes to the previous monarch’s eldest brother and their descendants, and then if no brothers the eldest daughter and their descendants. And then it goes up another generation to look for possible heirs.
For anyone born *after* November 2011, the male/female part is ignored – so the eldest *child* inherits, ignoring gender.
The other main rule is that the path ignores anyone who is a Roman Catholic.
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Now for a more detailed look:
So… before 1700 succession to the throne of England (and the associated ones in Scotland and Ireland) was a bit messy.
The traditional idea is that the eldest son of the previous king inherited, but of the 30 or so monarchs of England from 1066 to 1700, only about 10 were the oldest son of the previous king at the time of his death (and even then, at least one’s father was deposed and murdered).
During the 1600s there were quite a few problems with monarchs not having their own, nominated heir (see Queen Elizabeth I), or having unsuitable heirs (King James II), and a little matter of a republican revolution leading to a brutal military dictatorship for a while. This all culminated in the invasion of 1688 (the “Glorious Revolution”) where the English Parliament essentially invited a foreign prince to invade and depose the King (then James II) and replace him.
The 1689 **Bill of Rights** established that the new monarchs would be King William III and Queen Mary II, jointly (William being the invader and nephew of the previously-deposed king, Mary – his wife – being the elder daughter of the previous king, despite him having a son). After them the line of succession would go through Mary’s children and descendants, and then failing that to her younger sister Anne and Anne’s descendants. But by 1700 Mary had died without having any children), and Anne’s only living son had just died aged 11 (Anne had been pregnant at least 17 times by then, only 3 had survived to birth, and the other two had died within a couple of years).
So we get the 1701 **[Act of Settlement](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Act_of_Settlement_1701)**. This started up a new line of succession:
> The Princess Sophia, Electress and Duchess Dowager of Hanover, Daughter of the late Queen of Bohemia, Daughter of King James the First, to inherit after the King and the Princess Anne, in Default of Issue of the said Princess and His Majesty, respectively and the Heirs of her Body, being Protestants.
Princess Sophia was William&Mary’s grandfather’s elder sister’s daughter. But crucially, she was the next in line to the throne who was a Protestant. The Act of Settlement then created new rules for who would be the monarch of England (and would be applied to the new Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707, and then the new United Kingdom in 1800).
It would start with Princess Sophia. Then go to the oldest male child and his descendants, then the oldest female child and her descendants, then oldest male brother and down his descendants and so on. But it would skip anyone who was a Catholic, and anyone married to a Catholic.
Princess Sophia died before Queen Anne, so she was never Queen. Her eldest son (a Protestant) became King George I of Great Britain, succeeded by his eldest son (George II), similarly George III, and similarly George IV. George IV had no legitimate children (his marriage was forced on him and did not go well, his only daughter died before him in childbirth aged 21), so his younger brother became William IV, but William’s legitimate children all died very young, so after he died the throne passed to his then deceased younger brother’s daughter, Victoria.
After Queen Victoria the throne went to her eldest surviving son, Albert, crowned Edward VII of the United Kingdom, followed by his eldest son George V, his son Edward VIII, but he was forced to abdicate and was replaced by his younger brother George VI. George VI had no sons, so his elder daughter Elizabeth succeeded him as Queen Elizabeth II, and her eldest son Charles became King Charles III earlier this year.
Before Elizabeth II’s death a thing called [the Perth Agreement](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perth_Agreement) was passed; this was an agreement between the Governments of all countries where Elizabeth was Head of State, agreeing to change the rules for succession to remove the sexist element (and allow for the succession of people who had *married* a Roman Catholic, although it still excluded anyone who was a Catholic). But this wasn’t retroactive(ish), so only applies to anyone born after 2011.
So given that, the current heir to the throne of the United Kingdom is Charles’s elder son, William, Prince of Wales. Then his son, Prince George and (as George doesn’t have any children – he is only 9), William’s daughter Charlotte, then his younger son Louis (the Perth Agreement means that Charlotte is ahead of Louis, as she was born after 2011). If George has any legitimate, non-Catholic children they would go before Charlotte, and if she has children they would go before Louis.
After Louis (assuming William has no more children himself) it goes back up to William’s generation, to his younger brother Harry, Duke of Sussex, and then to Harry’s eldest child Archie, any descendants Archie might have by then, and then to Harry’s second child Lilibet and any descendants she might have. Once we run out of descendants of Harry, it goes back up a generation again to King Charles III’s next oldest brother Prince Andrew, Duke of York (which could be awkward), his eldest daughter Princess Beatrice (he has no sons) and her daughter. If we run out of descendants of Prince Andrew it goes to his next oldest brother, Prince Edward and his children, and then to Andrew’s ~~younger~~*older* sister (no more brothers and born pre-2011) Princess Anne and her family.
After Princess Anne’s family it has to go up another generation to Princess Margaret, Queen Elizabeth II’s sister, but as she died in 2002 it would go to her son David, Earl of Snowden and his family. If we run out of Margaret’s descendants it has to go up another generation to Elizabeth II’s uncle Prince Henry (who died in 1974), his eldest son (Prince William, died in 1972), and so ends with his eldest son Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester and his family. That gets us to 39 possible heirs before we have to go back up to another of Elizabeth II’s uncles Prince George and his family (Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, Elizabeth II’s cousin, who is still alive). Prince Edward’s son married a Catholic, but is now, post-Perth, eligible to inherit, but his older two children are Catholics themselves, so excluded. His youngest child, Lady Amelia Windsor is apparently not Catholic, so is 42nd in line to the throne.
There is a handy chart [here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Succession_to_the_British_throne#Current_line_of_succession) listing up to 62 of the current people in order of succession, although there are some question marks as to whether people are excluded due to being Catholic.
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