Welcome to British Isles Friday! British Isles Friday is a weekly event for sharing all things British and Irish — reviews, photos, opinions, trip reports, guides, links, resources, personal stories, interviews, and research posts. Join us each Friday to link your British and Irish themed content and to see what others have to share. The link list is at the bottom of this post. Pour a cup of tea or lift a pint and join our link party!

Last week, I got a kick out of the book The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage. Heater reviewed a series of historical romance novels by Tessa Dare. Tina reviewed Waiting for Wednesday, third in a mystery series by Nicci French. Gaele reviewed four novels: Annie’s Summer by the Sea, Who Needs Men Anyway?, The Wedding that Changed Everything, and The Ludlow Ladies’ Society. Sim shared an older post about her mom, to note the upcoming anniversary of her death. Jean reviewed The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia, by Samuel Johnson. Becky listened to an audiobook version of The Hobbit.

I’m doing the A to Z Challenge in April, using the theme of the UK & Ireland. For the letter R, let’s look at the royal succession.

The authoritative source for the royal succession seems to be this page at the royal.uk website. It also explains the history of the Parliamentary statutes that govern the succession. The most recent change, enacted in 2015, ended male primogeniture going forward (younger brothers used to have precedence over older sisters) and the ban on marriage to Roman Catholics (although it retained the requirement that the monarch be in communion with the Church of England).

The Wikipedia article, Succession to the British Throne, is more fun to explore because it shows the succession in the form of a family tree and with live links for each of the individuals.

Every once in a while, I go down a rabbit hole of asking “what do these people do?” Some of them have royal duties — attending events, making visits around the world, and raising money for charities. Some of them are too young to have responsibilities beyond getting educated.

Anne, Princess Royal, during the Chatham House Prize 2015 award ceremony. By Chatham House [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Some have outside interests, financial and otherwise, with varying degrees of success. Prince Edward, youngest son of Queen Elizabeth II, tried his hand at running a production company that had limited success and, ultimately, folded. Peter Phillips, grandson of Queen Elizabeth II and son of Princess Anne, continues a career in event management that began in Formula One Racing — here’s his company profile page at Sports and Entertainment Ltd., which doesn’t mention his place in the line of succession.

There is athleticism in the royal family. Zara Tindall, granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II and daughter of Princess Anne, was the world champion in horse eventing in 2006 and won a team event Olympic silver medal in 2012. Princess Beatrice, granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II and oldest daughter of Prince Andrew, completed the London Marathon in 2010 and has climbed mountains to raise money for charity.

Royal-watching is a spectator sport that I try to stay away from for fear that it’s addictive, but it’s fun for an indulgence on a rainy evening. How much royal-watching do you do?