The line of succession to the throne of England was through the male line for 1,000 years. Known as primogeniture it meant that the first born son was automatically the heir to the throne. The current monarch, Elizabeth II succeeded her father to the throne because she had no brothers and she was the elder of two girls.
In 1998 Britain’s House of Lords agreed to give a monarch’s first-born daughter the same claim to the throne as a first-born son. The change is unlikely to have any immediate impact. Prince Charles has no older sister. His heir, Prince William has no sisters and the eldest child of William is a boy. In 2013, laws which banned anyone in the line of succession to the British throne, from marrying a Roman Catholic were scrapped.
Britain’s House of Lords agreed to end 1000 years of male preference, by giving a first-born daughter of the monarch the same claim to the throne as a first-born son, in the year 1998 On This Day.
Queen Elizabeth II in Ireland 2011