Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge © Adrian Dennis, Reuters

Objectives:

The Behind the Headlines news story and related World Book articles will provide students with an overview of the British monarchy both under the old succession laws dating back more than 300 years and the recently agreed-upon laws.

People and Places:

• British royal family
• Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge
• Charles, Prince of Wales
• Queen Elizabeth II
• Prince William
• United Kingdom

Vocabulary Terms:

• ascend
• democracy
• heir
• monarchy
• reform
• succession
• throne

Discussion Topics:

1. Compare and contrast a monarchy with a democracy. Which countries practice each of these forms of government.

2. The United Kingdom’s old succession laws date back 300 years. Why do you think the Commonwealth nations decided to change them? Why now?

3. The new reforms also change a legal requirement that an heir must have the permission of the monarch before marrying. Do you agree with this change? Why or why not?

4. Use World Book’s timeline feature, which includes prebuilt timelines on Monarchs of England before William the Conqueror and Monarchs of Britain from Anne to Elizabeth II.

Activity:

Help your students understand the process of succession using their own families with this interactive exercise.

1. Ask your students to take out a few blank pieces of paper, a pencil, and colored pencils or markers. Tell them to draw and color a tree with a large, wide, empty trunk.

2. Ask your students to draw a three-generational family tree inside the tree trunk. For example, they could list their grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and siblings.

3. When all the students have completed this task, proclaim that you are dubbing each of your students and their families the new British royal family.

4. Ask your students to pick one senior member of the family as king or queen of the city or town where each student lives. Following the old British rules of succession, tell the students to list all the heirs to the throne in order of their right to succession in red on a different piece of paper until each student gets to his or her name.

5. Ask them to then make a second list in green of all the family members heir to the throne under the new British rules of succession, until each students gets to his or her name.

6. You can ask the students to do this exercise several additional times using different senior family members as king or queen.

7. Analyze the results with the students so they can understand the principles of succession, and discover how many people in their own families would be heir to the throne before the students themselves would get to rule.