For: Heir Apparent (novel) An heir apparent is an heir who (short of a fundamental change in the situation) cannot be displaced from inheriting; the term is used in contrast to heir presumptive, the term for a conditional heir who is currently in line to inherit but could be displaced at any time in the future. Today these terms are most commonly used for heirs to hereditary titles, particularly monarchies. It is also used metaphorically to indicate someone who is the apparent "anointed" successor to any position of power, e.g., a political or corporate leader.

The phrase is only occasionally found used as a title, but as such it is usually capitalized ("Heir Apparent"). Most monarchies give the heir apparent the title of "Crown Prince" or have or had a more specific version, such as Prince of Orange in the Netherlands or Prince of Wales in the United Kingdom. See crown prince for more examples.

This article is concerned primarily with heirs apparent in a hereditary system regulated by laws of primogeniture; it does not consider cases where a monarch has a say in naming his or her own heir.

Heir apparent versus heir presumptive

In a hereditary system governed by some form of primogeniture, an heir apparent is easy to identify: he or she is somebody whose place as first in the line of succession to the title or throne is secure irrespective of future births that may occur. An heir presumptive, by contrast, can always be "bumped down" in the succession by the birth of somebody more closely related in a legal sense (according to that form of primogeniture) to the current title-holder.

The clearest example occurs in the case of a title-holder with no children. If at any time he or she produces children, they will rank ahead of whatever more "distant" relative (the title-holder's sibling, perhaps, or a nephew or cousin) was previously heir presumptive.

For the purposes of many legal systems, it is assumed that childbirth is always possible, irrespective of age or health status. The possibility of a fertile octogenarian, although nonexistent in reality, is never ruled out. In such circumstances a person may be, in a practical sense, the heir apparent but still, legally speaking, heir presumptive. Science knows that nobody could be born to take his or her place, but the law does not.

Daughters in male-preference primogeniture

The United Kingdom uses male-preference primogeniture: that is to say, daughters (and their lines) may inherit but only in default of sons (and theirs). That is, a female has just as much right to a place in the order of succession as a male would, but she ranks behind all her brothers, regardless of age.

Thus in the normal run of things even an only daughter will not be her father's (or mother's) heir apparent, since at any time a brother might be born who, although younger, would become heir apparent. Hence she is only an heir presumptive.