Heir apparent

An heir (female: heiress) is a person who has inherited something after the original owner's death. It is often a child after a parent dies.^[1]

Heir apparent and heir presumptive usually refer to someone who will inherit a royal or noble title:

An heir apparent is someone who will inherit at the death of the present title-holder.^[2]

A Crown Prince is an heir apparent to the throne in a monarchy.^[3]

An heir presumptive is someone who may inherit unless someone with a better claim under the rules of succession is found.^[4]

King Charles III's oldest son is Prince William, who is thus the heir apparent of the British monarchy.

Prince Bertil of Sweden was the heir presumptive to his nephew King Carl XVI Gustav. The King's son, Prince Carl Philip became heir apparent when he was born, but when in 1980 the law of succession changed, his sister Princess Victoria became the world's first heiress apparent.

Monarchies that have used the title

Heir Apparent Media

Throngs before the Imperial Palace in Japan awaiting the appearance of the Crown Prince Hirohito for the recent proclamation of his official recognition as the heir apparent to the Japanese Imperial Throne – New York Times, 1916.
Prince Salman bin Hamad al Khalifa at the Pentagon May 10 2012
2023 Princess Elisabeth, Duchess of Brabant (cropped)01
Royal Prince of Bhutan (cropped)
Al-Muhtadee Billah in 2011.
Prins Christian til Danmark 2021
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken meets with Jordanian King Abdullah II, at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C. on July 20, 2021. [State Department photo by Ron Przysucha/ Public Domain]
Sabah Al-Khalid Al-Sabah 2014 (cropped)
Stefan Barriga, HSH Hereditary Prince Alois of Liechtenstein and Árni Páll Árnason during a EFTA courtesy visit to Vaduz Castle.
Assermentation Guillaume CHD (cropped)

References

↑ Richard Burn; John Burn, A New Law Dictionary (London: printed by A. Strahan and W. Woodfall, for T. Cadell, 1792), p. 423
↑ The Manual of Rank and Nobility, or Key to the Peerage (London: Saunders and Otley, 1828), p. 43
↑ Jeremy Paxman, On Royalty: A Very Polite Inquiry Into Some Strangely Related Families (New York : PublicAffairs, 2008), p. 103
↑ John Almon; John Debrett; et al., The Parliamentary register: or, History of the proceedings and debates of the House of Lords ... during the 14th-[18th] Parliament[s] of Great Britain [1774-1803] (London: Printed for J. Almon, 1775-1804), p. 75

[1] Richard Burn; John Burn, A New Law Dictionary (London: printed by A. Strahan and W. Woodfall, for T. Cadell, 1792), p. 423

[2] The Manual of Rank and Nobility, or Key to the Peerage (London: Saunders and Otley, 1828), p. 43

[3] Jeremy Paxman, On Royalty: A Very Polite Inquiry Into Some Strangely Related Families (New York : PublicAffairs, 2008), p. 103

[4] John Almon; John Debrett; et al., The Parliamentary register: or, History of the proceedings and debates of the House of Lords ... during the 14th-[18th] Parliament[s] of Great Britain [1774-1803] (London: Printed for J. Almon, 1775-1804), p. 75

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