Sept. 13, 2026

The Princess Who Could Have Been Queen of Britain? The Strange Royal Succession Story Explained Description:

Show Notes
Transcript

Who is Princess Sophie of Liechtenstein, and why do some historians say she could one day inherit the centuries-old Jacobite claim to the British throne? We explain the remarkable alternative royal succession that begins with King James II, passes through Bonnie Prince Charlie, and today runs through the Duke of Bavaria toward the Liechtenstein royal family. Plus, why Liechtenstein has just changed its succession laws, how Britain's rules differ, Prince Edward's remarkable rise from overlooked royal to one of the monarchy's most popular figures, and the surprising story of the "two wives" comment from his former girlfriend.

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Palace Intrigue is a daily British royal family podcast covering King Charles, Meghan Markle, Prince Harry, Kate Middleton and the House of Windsor. New episodes every day. Follow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. Part of the Caloroga Shark Media network.

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Hello and welcome to Palace Intrigue. I am your host,

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Mark Francis. There is a European princess named Sophie who

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recently found herself at the centre of a major change

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to royal succession, and she also happens to occupy a

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fascinating place in an alternative version of British royal history.

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Princess Sophie of Liechtenstein is the wife of Prince Alois

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and the hereditary prince and longtime regent of Lichtenstein. But

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through her own family, Sophie also sits near the top

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of what is known as the Jacobite line of succession

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to the British throne. To understand it, we have to

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go all the way back to King James II. James

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became King of England, Scotland, and Ireland in 1685. He

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was Catholic, while much of Britain's political establishment was Protestant,

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and his reign quickly became entangled in disputes over religion

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and royal power. Then came the Glorious Revolution of 1688.

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James was effectively forced from the throne, and his Protestant

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daughter Mary and her husband, William of Orange, became the

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new monarchs, William III and Mary II. But James and

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his supporters didn't accept that his claim had simply disappeared.

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Those supporters became known as Jacobites, from Jacobus, the Latin

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form of James. For decades, the Jacobites attempted to restore

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James and his descendants to the throne and The most

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famous of those efforts eventually involved Charles Edward Stuart, Bonnie

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Prince Charlie, and the Jacobite Rising of 1745. That ended

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disastrously for the Jacobites at the Battle of Culloden the

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following year. The political cause eventually faded away, but genealogists

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can still trace where the Stuart claim would have gone

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if you ignore the monarchs Britain actually recognized and instead

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follow the hereditary Jacobite line. And that produces a very

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different royal family. Today, the person regarded by Jacobite genealogical

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succession as the heir to the Stuart claim is Franz,

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Duke of Bavaria. Under this alternative history, Franz would be

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the claimant to the British crown rather than King Charles III.

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There is, however, one important thing to know about Franz.

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He isn't claiming it. The Duke of Bavaria has shown

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no interest in becoming King of Britain, and the modern

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Jacobite succession is largely an interesting exercise in royal genealogy

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rather than functioning political movement. Franz also has no children.

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That means the theoretical claim would eventually move to his

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younger brother, Prince Max, Duke, in Bavaria, and Max has

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no sons. His eldest daughter is Princess Sophie. That puts

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Sophie directly in the path of this alternative succession. Following

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the Jacobite genealogy, she would eventually inherit the claim after

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her uncle Franz and her father Max, and from Sophie,

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it would continue through her descendants. which creates the wonderfully

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strange possibility that the theoretical Stuart claimed the British throne

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could eventually become intertwined with the ruling family of Liechtenstein.

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There is another major obstacle before anyone starts planning the coronation.

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Sophie is Catholic. British succession law still prohibits a Roman

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Catholic from becoming monarch. The Succession to the Crown Act

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changed some of the old restrictions surrounding Catholicism, most notably

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allowing people in the line of succession to marry Catholics

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without automatically losing their place. but the sovereign personally still

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cannot be Catholic. So Sophie isn't secretly waiting for her

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opportunity to replace Charles. There is no serious modern political

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movement preparing to put her on the British throne, and

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her family has shown no intention of pursuing the historical claim.

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What makes the story particularly timely is that Sophie has

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just been involved in a very real succession story in Liechtenstein.

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The country's royal family has announced a major change to

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its own rules. Liechtenstein is moving to absolute primogeniture, meaning

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that the sex of a royal child will no longer

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determine that child's position in the succession. In simple terms,

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the firstborn child comes first, whether that child is a

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boy or a girl. That's a significant change for a

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monarchy that had maintained male preference. Sophie and Alois have

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four children. Their eldest is Prince Joseph Wenzel, followed by

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Princess Marie Caroline, Prince George and Prince Nicholas. The change

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will not be applied retroactively. So Marie Caroline will not

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suddenly move ahead of her younger brothers. Instead, the major

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effect will be seen in the next generation. Prince Joseph

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Wenzel is currently unmarried, has no children. Under the new rules,

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when he eventually does have a family, his first-born child

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will become his heir, regardless of whether that child is

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a son or a daughter. It's a change Britain made

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more than a decade ago. The succession to the Crown

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Act of 2013 ended male preference for British royals after

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October 2018. That's why Princess Charlotte remains ahead of her

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younger brother Prince Louis in the British line of succession.

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Under the previous system, Louis would have moved ahead of

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Charlotte simply because he was a male. So Princess Sophie

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now finds herself connected to two very different stories about

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how monarchies determine who gets the crown. In Liechtenstein, she's

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part of a royal family, modernizing its succession rules so

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that daughters and sons are treated equally. And through her

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Bavarian ancestry, she's also one of the leading figures in

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a theoretical British succession that has been running parallel to

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the actual monarchy for more than 300 years. King Charles'

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crown is safe. More palace in just a moment. Hallow

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wrote about the wondrous rise of Prince Edward and asked

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just how and when did he start becoming as popular

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as Charles? According to polling highlighted by Hallow, The Duke

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of Edinburgh has seen his popularity rise dramatically since 2019.

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Back then, only 35% of those surveyed had a positive

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opinion of Edward, while 32% viewed him negatively. Since then,

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his net popularity has reportedly climbed by 32 points, twice

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the improvement recorded by either King Charles or Princess Anne

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over the same period. And perhaps the interesting part is

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that Edward doesn't appear to have achieved this through some

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grand reinvention. If anything, the public seems to have gradually

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discovered the royal who was already there. Edward had some

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baggage from his younger years. He famously left Royal Marines

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training in the 1980s. And then there was the Grand

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Knockout Tournament, the bizarre 1987 television spectacle featuring members of

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the royal family competing alongside celebrities. Neither episode did much

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for his image. But Edward eventually settled into the much

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less glamorous business of simply doing royal work. Even in 2019,

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when his public profile remained relatively low, he carried out

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more engagements than Queen Elizabeth, trailing only Charles and Princess Anne.

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The turning point appears to have come during the final

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years of his parents' lives. Edward became more visible when

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Prince Philip was hospitalised in 2021, speaking publicly about his

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father's condition. After Philip's death, Edward increasingly assumed responsibilities once

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associated with his father. Then came Queen Elizabeth's platinum jubilee,

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and only months later, her death. Edward was suddenly being

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seen not simply as the Queen's youngest son, but as

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a senior member of the family helping carry the monarchy

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through a historic transition, he stood vigil beside his mother's

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coffin at Westminster Hall alongside Charles, Anne and Andrew. In

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March 2023, Charles gave Edward the title once held by

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their father, making him Duke of Edinburgh on his 59th birthday.

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There's also an interesting contrast with what was happening elsewhere

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in the family. As Prince Andrew disappeared from public duties

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and Harry and Meghan left their roles as working royals,

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Edward and Sophie simply kept showing up. Sophie once described

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their approach rather perfectly, saying, We've plodded along doing what

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we're doing, hopefully doing it well. And when she asked

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about suggestions that she and Edward had suddenly started taking

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on more work after the departure of other senior royals,

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Sophie had a wonderfully dry response. What did people think

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we were doing beforehand? Edward also gives Sophie enormous credit

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for the way his life has turned out. Speaking around

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his 60th birthday in 2024, he called her critical, absolutely critical.

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She's been an absolute brilliant rock, and I'm incredibly lucky

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that I found Sophie and that she found me. Hopefully

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we've been a really brilliant partnership. Prince Edward once apparently

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summed up the difficulty of royal marriage with a rather

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extraordinary idea. In a perfect world, he would have had

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two wives. The story comes from Edward's former girlfriend, West

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End star Ruthie Henschel, who has been looking back at

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their relationship in her memoir, The Showgirl and the Prince.

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Henschel and Edward were together on and off from 1988

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until 1993, before Edward began his relationship with Sophie Rees-Jones,

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now the Duchess of Edinburgh. According to Henschel, Edward once

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told her that in a perfect world, he would have

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two wives, one for the job and one for the

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woman you loved. And Henschel says there was rather a

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sad logic behind that. She said it was because he

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wouldn't want the woman you love to go through the job.

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Speaking on Hello's A Right Royal podcast, she explained that

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she was born to sing, dance and act. If I

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had given it up, I would have been miserable. It's

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not my kind of life. Edward and Henschel split in 1993,

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and Edward began dating Sophie not long afterward. And there

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you have it. If you'd like to email us or

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address us at thepalaceintrigue at gmail.com. If you're on Spotify,

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uninterrupted and get the show for five bucks a month

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commercial free. We really appreciate your support. I am Mark Francis.

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My thanks to John McDermott. This is Palace Intrigue. Good times.

The Princess Who Could Have Been Queen of Britain? The Strange Royal Succession Story Explained Description:

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