"Heir Apparent" and "Heir Presumptive."

There is some confusion as to the difference between an "heir apparent" and an "heir presumptive" to a throne. In point of law the heir is the party who succeeds to an estate or a dignity upon the death of the previous holder of such position. A king or a queen may have an "heir apparent" and an "heir presumptive" at the same time; the difference between the two being that the heir apparent must succeed if he or she survive the present holder of the dignity, while an heir presumptive, although he is heir for the time being, is liable to have his right to the succession defeated by the birth of a nearer heir. The Prince of Wales is now heir apparent to the throne. His son, Prince George of Wales, is not an heir presumptive to the throne, but is heir apparent to the Princedom of Wales. The death of his father would make him heir apparent. But had Prince George become "heir apparent" before the birth of his children, then his sister, the Duchess of Fife, would have been the "heir presumptive," her succession to the throne being liable to be defeated by the birth of a direct heir to her brother.

Since the birth of the young Prince Edward, Duke of York, there has been no "heir presumptive" to the throne of England.