Prince Harry 'wanted to leave royals before Meghan' says expert

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The daughters of Zara and husband Mike Tindall will not be overtaken by their younger brother Lucas Philip following his birth last Sunday. They become the second and third royals to benefit from the rule, which only applies to children born after 2011.

The Succession to the Crown Act (2013) was created following the birth of their cousin Princess Charlotte – the Cambridge’s second child – to stop her falling down the pecking order if she had a younger brother.

It means that Mia, seven, and two-year-old Lena, will remain 20th and 21st in line to the throne.

After announcing the birth, Mr Tindall – a former England rugby international – said: “”The problem is Lena’s like: ‘MY baby!’

“And we’re like: ‘No Lena, not your baby’ as she tries to pick him up.”

Despite being applied retrospectively, it will have no effect on their grandmother, Princess Anne.

The Princess Royal is currently 15th in line to the throne – much further down the line than her younger brothers, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward.

The Princess is ranked even lower than her niece, Lady Louise Windsor.

Had the act applied when she was born, her children Peter Phillips and Zara Tindall would be much closer to the throne than their cousins Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, who are currently ninth and tenth.

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The Royal Family’s website explains how the act was brought in: “The Succession to the Crown Act (2013) amended the provisions of the Bill of Rights and the Act of Settlement to end the system of male primogeniture, under which a younger son can displace an elder daughter in the line of succession.”

Zara gave birth to her son unexpectedly on the bathroom floor of her Gatcombe estate house.

Lucas, who is a member of the Royal Family but not an HRH, is understood to be the first royal baby to be born at home for nearly 60 years.

Joe Little, managing editor of Majesty magazine, told the Evening Standard: “Every royal baby born since the 1970s has been born in hospital.

“The upper classes would never have babies in hospital. It became a modern royal convention.

“A sudden birth on your bathroom floor at six o’clock on a Sunday evening is up there with the most unusual of royal births.”

However Lucas’ great-grandfather the Duke of Edinburgh – who he shares a middle name with – also had an unusual birth.

Born in Corfu, Greece in 1921, Prince Philip was allegedly on the kitchen table of his family home, Mon Repos.

Mr Little told the publication: “It was allegedly the kitchen table or the dining room table – a home birth in slightly unusual circumstances – but I think that’s just how it was back then.

“It’s a very interesting link between the two Philips – both born in quite unusual ways.”

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