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{{trope}}
▲{{quote box|[[File:maleheir_5695.jpg|frame]]}}
{{quote|
When there is no male [[Royal Blood|heir]], a [[Succession Crisis]] results, which is reason enough for kings to go to great lengths to get a suitable heir.
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If the king doesn't, the courtiers may get into the act. A [[Succession Crisis]] can be unpleasant all around. This is done commonly with a grieving widow or widowers, who may be told [[You Have Waited Long Enough]] with great promptness.
And, in the event they do get such an heir, this only secures one generation. As soon as the child is grown, they turn to [[I Want Grandkids|pressuring the heir to have an heir of his own]]. And one child is dangerous; surely you need [[Spare to
Then again, any old child will not do; for men at least, [[
Although most common in stories about royalty, this trope also includes the common people. This trope is about heirs, and it is not intended to cover cases where the parent(s) merely wish for a boy (or girl) because they would like one, but is only when they wish for one to continue the family
Also: [[Don't Explain the Joke|The blurb is a reference to]] <s>an [[Memetic Mutation|old meme]].</s> the [
{{examples
== [[Anime]] ==
* The plot driver of ''Ribon No Kishi'', aka ''[[
** ''Ribon no Kishi'' provided direct inspiration for many other anime including ''[[Rose of Versailles]]''.
* Needing a male heir, in particular a biological one, is the source of much of the trouble related to adopted child Amon in ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! GX (
** And before him, Rishid in the original ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh (
* Miroku of ''[[
* In the fictional Kingdom of Sauville in ''[[
* Thought to happen in Syaoran's family in ''[[
** In actuality, Li seems to be the heir to the Li Clan, not the head of it. That role seems to be filled by his mother, Yelan, who he fears. The trope is still in play, however.
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* In [[Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld]] Dark Opal's repeatedly attempted to get himself an heir, but his own children are all misshapen and he locks them away in another dimension, except Granch, who understandably rebels against him. Then he "adopts" Carnelian, an {{spoiler|earthling}} and that ends up much the same way.
* ''[[The Invisibles]]'': Transvestite shaman Lord Fanny was born a boy in a family with a long line of ''brujas''. After his mother's second attempt to have a child ended in a miscarriage, his grandmother ordered him to be raised as a girl. Fortunately, Fanny took quickly to crossdressing, and ably took up the family tradition.
* In one of ''[[Strangers in Paradise]]'''s later story arcs, the plot is driven by [[Genius Bruiser|Tambi's]] machinations to get [[Broken Bird|Katchoo]] to produce an heir for the Baker-Choovanski clan.
* Ra's al Ghul needs an heir to take over his criminal empire, who must marry his daughter to inherit. [[Batman]] from [[Batman:
* While most of the Pride in ''[[Runaways]]'' wanted children anyway, Mrs. Wilder convinced the few who didn't that if each of them had one child, then those six children could take their places in the Gibborim's paradise. As it was, there were twelve of them and only six places promised, so there were no guarantees as to which six would make it. If each of them donated a spot to their child, the legacy of each of the couples was ensured. In a subversion, the gender itself didn't really matter and most of the children were girls.
* A modern, political example happens in ''[[Sin City]]''. The Roarke family is the most powerful family in the country and corrupt to the core. They have been running the city for over a century but during the events of the series, there was only one heir to the "royal family": Junior Roarke, a [[Serial Killer]] and child molester. {{spoiler|Junior is castrated and later killed by Detective John Hartigan,}} resulting in the Roarke legacy being cut off for good.
== [[Fairy Tale
* The king and queen in "[[
** Other tales of this type include: "[https://web.archive.org/web/20130718151024/http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/donkeyskin/stories/allfur.html All-Kinds-of-Fur]", "[https://web.archive.org/web/20131020230909/http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/donkeyskin/stories/kingdaughter.html The King Who Wished Marry To His Daughter]", "[https://web.archive.org/web/20130620100644/http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/donkeyskin/stories/shebear.html The She-Bear]", "[https://web.archive.org/web/20140325092007/http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/donkeyskin/stories/margerywhitecoat.html Margery White Coats]", and "[http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type0510b.html#canziani Golden-Teeth]".
*** There is a kinder version of that tale in which the requirements (the new queen must be as beautiful as the old one with the same golden hair) are the same and the princess is the only one who fulfills them. However the king merely decides to marry her off to one of his advisers and she opts to run away rather than be forced into a loveless marriage.
* In "[https://web.archive.org/web/20130718151309/http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/donkeyskin/stories/catskin.html Catskin]", the nobleman doesn't care about his daughter because he wants a son. When she grows up, he orders her married off to the first man who will have her and she has to run away.
== [[Film]] ==
* In ''[[
* The fact that only males can inherit the throne in ''[[Stardust (
** Not only that, but their law also demands that there be no other contenders, which means that any other male heir has to be dead.
** Of course, it is {{spoiler|Una's son who inherits the throne after all his uncles die}}.
* ''[[Caligula]]'': the emperor refused to marry Caesonia until she bore him a son. When his sister Drusilla pointed out that it would be impossible to tell if the child was actually his, he replied that he would simply keep her under constant guard. The guards would be homosexuals. Who'd been castrated.
* The king in Disney's ''[[Cinderella (Disney film)|Cinderella]]'' wants his son to marry so that he (the king) may have grandchildren. Subverted in that the king [[I Want Grandkids|is more interested in "the pitter patter of little feet"]] rather than having an heir to the throne.
* The king in ''[[
{{quote|
''(unwraps the baby on-screen, vagina ensues)''
'''King:''' A GIRL? What SORCERY is this? That white which must have CURSED me! }}
* Possible examples in ''[[The Thief of Bagdad]]''; Jaffar's stated reason for asking for the hand of the princess of Basra is that he wants to start a dynasty. The sultan of Basra then says, "I tried that once, and what have I got? A daughter!" (Of course, Jaffar ''is'' a usurper, for whom having a marriage and heir with royal blood would probably be a bit more important.)
* Frederich is shown praying desperately for a son in ''[[Snow White:
== [[Literature]] ==
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** She also forces her husband to divorce her so he can marry a fertile woman and get heirs for ''his'' house.
* One of the major plot motivators in [[Jane Austen]]'s ''[[Pride and Prejudice]]'' is the Bennetts' lack of a male heir.
* In [[
* ''[[
** His legal changes were largely subverted, as only two other queens claimed the throne in the next 16 generations. The odds of this happening by pure chance are ''extremely'' low, assuming male and female royal offspring were equally likely to be born and survive to inherit.
** The last king of Numenor, Ar-Pharazon, averted this by marrying his [[Kissing Cousins|cousin]] Miriel, the only child of the previous king, and usurped her throne. It's noted that he broke three Numenorean laws in doing so: he forced Miriel to marry him, marriage between [[Kissing Cousins|first cousins]] was forbidden, and the law stated that the eldest child of the previous ruler would ascend to the throne, and ''not'' her consort in the case of a woman.
** In the supplemental material (''[[Unfinished
* In Frank Herbert's ''[[Dune]]'', Duke Leto's concubine Lady Jessica was supposed to have a daughter for the Bene Gesserit, but Leto wanted a son, and she went along with him, although it is not made clear if he wanted a son for reasons of getting an heir or just wanted a son because he wanted a male child.
** Added to by the fact that the Bene Gesserit's [[Xanatos Roulette]] was {{spoiler|aiming for a daughter so that they could produce a male heir with a Harkonnen}}. Making the Bene Gesserit a Heir Club for Witches?
*** It's also implied that Paul more or less forced himself to be born male, and that Jessica's concern for Leto's wishes is a rationalization.
**** Not you'll find that sort of implication in any of [[Canon
** In the ''[[Dune]]'' prequels, the Emperor's wife deliberately prevented this, probably under orders from the Reverend Mothers, who planned to bring the Kwisatz Haderach into existence within a few generations, and needed the throne empty for him to assume.
*** It's mentioned outright in the original novel, and that it was a deal between Shaddam IV and the Bene Gesserit in exchange for their support.
* In [[
* In [[Robert Jordan]]'s ''[[
* ''[[The Assassins of Tamurin]]'': The success of Makina Seval's plot hinges on her adopted daughter Ashken having a male heir with Ardavan. Nilang assures Lale she has a contingency
* In [[Lois McMaster Bujold]]'s ''[[Chalion|The Curse of Chalion]]'', Roya Orico grasped that the {{spoiler|titular curse}} lay with him and convinced his Royina to secretly lie with his (evil) Chancellor (who was at least polite about it) and said Chancellor's even more evil brother (who was not). When that plan proved unsuccessful (and Royina Sara threatened to kill herself), he summoned his much younger half brother Tediz to court along with his sister Iselle. {{spoiler|Bujold eventually subverts it when Iselle (the bright one to begin with) is left the last of Fonsa's line alive when the titular curse is finally broken.}}
* In the first book of Melanie Rawn's ''Sunrunner'' series, ''[[Dragon Prince]]'', the realm is in an incredibly fragile political situation due solely to the fact High Prince Roelstra has ''seventeen'' daughters, yet no male heir; like Henry VIII in real life, Roelstra has put aside wife after wife, and his daughters (legitimate and illegitimate) are both opportun''ists'' and opportun''ities'', politically. One of the book's key intrigues rests on ensuring (via an elaborate deception) that Roelstra's fourth and current wife
* [[Andre Norton]] examples:
** ''[[The Jargoon Pard]]'': Lady Heroise is determined to bear a son she can mold into her puppet and so rule Car do Prawn. Unfortunately her child is a daughter. Luckily the expectant couple in the next room has [[Switched At Birth|just delivered a son]]. But unbeknownst to Heroise the father just happens to be her own long lost half-brother....!
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*** Lord Ulric of Ulmsdale had been unable to father any living children, so he divorced his second wife and married the widowed Lady Tephana because she was of proven fertility, having a son from a previous marriage. This led to a great deal of trouble starting at the end of the short story and picking up at the beginning of the novel, when Lady Tephana utterly rejected her son by Ulric - Kerovan - and settled down to scheming on behalf of her first-marriage son and later her daughter by Ulric. (The latter could inherit if Kerovan died or was publicly rejected as being unqualified to rule, e.g. because of mental or physical infirmity).
*** Joisan, the female lead of ''The Crystal Gryphon'' is involved in another potential [[Succession Crisis]]. Her paternal uncle, the lord of Ithdale, has no children but two potential heirs: Joisan (his half-brother's only child) and his younger sister's son, Toross. Although Joisan has been in an [[Arranged Marriage]] since early childhood, Toross's mother keeps trying to throw her together with Toross in the hopes of securing the succession for him. And Toross goes along with it because [[Unlucky Childhood Friend|he's genuinely in love with Joisan]].
* In [[Piers Anthony]]'s ''[[A Spell For Chameleon]]'', the Magician Trent must marry the Sorceress Iris in order to remain in [[
* The entire plot of the ''Merry Gentry'' series is [[The Fair Folk]] being mostly infertile, and whether Prince Cel or Merry can deliver an heir first.
* The House of Rahl from Terry Goodkind's ''[[Sword of Truth]]'' series takes it a step further: Not only must they have a male heir, but the heir must have the magical gift. More recent generations (particularly Darken Rahl) took to killing any female and/or non-gifted children.
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* The cause of more than a few problems in [[Robin Hobb]]'s ''The Farseer''. Chivalry, the crown prince, caused a scandal when he married who he wanted instead of for politics, and then she turned out to be [[Law of Inverse Fertility|too infirm to carry a child to term]]. When word came that Chivalry had a bastard son, Fitz, he stepped down in favor of his brother, Verity. Verity eventually marries but {{spoiler|wrecks his health so much with using the magical Skill that he can't father children}}, so Verity {{spoiler|takes over Fitz's body to have sex with his wife in hopes of continuing the royal line, even if through a bastard}}, since the Skill is strongest in the royal bloodline and if lost there may die out altogether.
* A side plot in the ''[[Heralds of Valdemar|Last Herald-Mage]]'' trilogy by [[Mercedes Lackey]] is that {{spoiler|King Randale of Valdemar is sterile. To hide this fact, Vanyel sires a child on Randale's lifebonded mate (at her request).}}
* [[Vorkosigan Saga|Barrayar]] has Emperor Gregor, last of a [[Royally Screwed
** Emperor Gregor has no clear cut heir. Aral's mother was a princess, meaning that the Vorkosigans are closest to the throne in terms of strict biology, but one interpretation of Barrayaran law states that women cannot inherit, nor can they pass down inheritance rights to their sons. Should Gregor die, civil war would erupt over whether or not to honor the old laws of inheritance. So basically ''everyone'' in the empire is holding their breath, waiting for Gregor to make some legitimate imperial babies and side step the issue of inheritance entirely. (Achieved by ''Cryoburn''. Where Miles comments that his wife is useful for more things that producing their brood of children.)
* ''[[
* ''[[Darkover]]'' is obsessed with this trope and wanting sons, though with several exceptions. The Aillard line is matriarchal and matrilineal, and Renunciates are forbidden from playing the game; they must vow to never make a traditional royal marriage or become a concubine, and "to bear children only in [their] own time and season," not for their family's ambitions. This is justified because [[Psychic Powers|laran]] is determined [[Superpowerful Genetics|genetically]].
* This trope is played with by [[Sheri S. Tepper]] in three novels. In ''Six Moon Dance'' the founding mothers of the planet Newholme create an artificial scarcity of female babies, and a dominant ideology that females are the stronger sex and males are the weaker, leading to the population desiring female heirs. In ''Raising the Stones'' the power derived by males from their heirs is eradicated by legally denying the father-child relationship. Heirs are are only accepted through the maternal line, and any male claiming fathership is frowned upon. And in ''[[The Gate to
* A particularly ironic [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshade]] is placed on Rhys in Katharine Kerr's Deverry Cycle, when he puts aside his wife for being infertile...and she remarries and is immediately knocked up by her new husband, much to the amusement of everyone involved, except Rhys.
* In ''[[
* In ''[[Assassin Fantastic|Coin of the Realm]]'', Princess Rosalind's father had six daughters before finally getting the son he wanted to succeed him. He regards his daughters as nothing more than "coin to be traded", with no more value than whatever he can get for marrying them off. This, naturally, doesn't sit well with Rosalind at all.
* Averted in Lynda Robinson's Lord Meren mysteries, in which Meren is perfectly happy having his ''adopted'' son Kysen as his legal heir. His relatives, on the other hand, loathe the idea of a common-born adoptee carrying on the family name, and keep badgering the widowed Meren to remarry and produce a "proper" son.
* An inverted non-royal example in [[Anne Rice]]'s ''[[Queen of the Damned]]''. Maharet, one of the first [[Our Vampires Are Different|vampires]], had a daughter before being turned. Since then, she has tracked all of her matrilineal descendants without regard for any descendants of males. While this made more sense in ancient times without reliable (or any kind) paternity testing (although she did assume that all women cheat), this is more of a tradition than anything in modern times.
* In [[Robert E. Howard]]'s stories of [[Conan the Barbarian]] after he became king, several times it is a plot point that Conan's death creates a problem, as he has no son. Oddly enough, we never see any pressure on him to marry and have one.
* In Cornelia Funke's Inkheart series, the Adderhead is terrified of death; and somehow this makes him think he needs a male heir.
* The [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]] gives us the misandrist Hapans. But Ta'a Chume never had a daughter, so her daughter-in-law, from the primitive and even ''more'' misandrist Dathomiri, becomes the new queen. But mostly she doesn't want Jedi to rule her kingdom. Three guesses what religion her granddaughter joins.
* Male heirs are the norm in ''[[Safehold]]'', with the Princedom of Corisande being of particular note, as Prince Hektor regards his heir as an [[Inadequate Inheritor]], and would gladly make his daughter Irys the heir of Corisandian law allowed it. There are exceptions though, primarily with Sharleyan of Chisholm, who inherited, and kept, the Crown despite the shadow of a less competent queen hanging over her. She later became the co-ruler and [[The Lancer]] to Cayleb of Charis, and nobody has any doubt that Cayelb and Sharleyan's daughter Alahnah will be their heir in the fullness of time.
* ''[[
== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* An episode of ''[[
* The episode "Heart of Gold" of ''[[
** It's heavily implied that he didn't do it accidentally; rather, Burgess' wife is implied to be infertile. When he receives the news that it's a boy, his wife is present and appears to be as relieved as Burgess is.
* ''[[The Tudors]]'' has this in spades, not surprisingly considering that it's a show about Henry VIII.
* In ''[[Robin Hood (TV series)|Robin Hood]]'', Guy of Gisborne makes it very clear on a couple of occasions that he expects Marian to provide him with an heir as soon as possible. He even uses it as a ''pick up line'' after the death of her father.
{{quote|
* ''[[Downton Abbey]]'' has a plot related to the entail of the estate, which is a similar issue to the situation in ''[[Pride and Prejudice]]'' whereby the daughters cannot inherit and the male heir is somewhat distant to the family.
* ''[[
* ''[[Merlin (TV series)|Merlin]]'' When Uther couldn't get an heir, he turned to magic, and it gave him one, but cost him the life of his queen, Ygraine.
* The ''[[
* A version that pops up in ''[[
* A subversion occurs in ''[[
== Theater ==
* Subverted in [[William Shakespeare]]'s ''[[The
* ''Anne of the Thousand Days'', a play by Maxwell Anderson about Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII.
== [[Video Games]] ==
* [[Gender
* [[Gender
* [[Gender
** {{spoiler|The end of the game sees the main character be granted the duties of army commander and royal knight commander by your (newly queened) sister, who currently has no Consort. ''Hopefully'' you're not taking over any other duties of the Consort along with it...}}
* ''[[Persona 4]]'' has the odd example of {{spoiler|Naoto Shirogane}}. As a female {{spoiler|born into a long family of detectives}} she's convinced that she'll never be able to continue the family tradition as a girl {{spoiler|and tries to pass herself off as male until she's exposed}}. Interesting this seems to be all in her head and not her family's view at all. {{spoiler|We never meet her grandfather, only one of his servants, but from the message he delivers it's clear he has no doubt that his granddaughter will make a fine detective and in fact was concerned that she wasn't being true to herself by faking being male.}}
* Poor [[Umineko no Naku Koro
* Oddly not mentioned at all in ''[[
* In ''[[The Witcher]] 2'', one of the triggers that start the events of the game is that king Foltest has a lack of proper male heirs: He has a bastard son, who is still technically higher on the succession line than Foltest's acknowledged daughter (though said daughter [[Brother
* An integral part of ''[[Sengoku (
* In [[World of Warcraft]], it' sindicated that [[Parents
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* Galasso in ''[[
** Connie also mentioned to Ethan (after they had sex at Galasso's command) that she was "on the pill", indicating that she may be a bit more assertive than she lets on. She eventually gets sick of this and starts her own business, which appears to be more successful than Galasso's own.
* [[Gender
* ''[[
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* ''[[The Simpsons (
** And "I don't know what phallocentric means, but no girls!"
** The story of King Henry VIII from "Margical History Tour"
{{quote|
'''Homer''': So grow a penis or get lost.
'''Lisa''': (grunts and struggles) I can't.
'''Homer''': Bye bye!
'''Lisa''': Well why can't your heir be female. Or why can't we elect our leaders?
'''Homer''': I wonder if I could cannonize a child?
'''Lisa''': Leaving! }}
* On ''[[Batman:
* Gender-Inverted in W.I.T.C.H, where succession to the throne of Meridian/Metamoor is traditionally female, which is why the younger {{spoiler|Elyon Brown}} is the rightful heir to the throne, over her older brother, Prince Phobos. Then again, considering he's a [[Complete Monster]] who probably killed their parents, that's a good thing.
== [[Real Life]] ==
* [[Henry VIII]] of England divorced his first wife because of this. He even went so far as to reject the Roman Catholic Church because they wouldn't let him get his marriages annulled. He had some
** Nowadays, the UK partially averts this: Women may inherit, [[Double Standard|but only if they have no living brothers]]. Moves are underway to at least talk about changing it. In Britain we prefer seismic changes to happen [[Department of Redundancy Department|gradually over time if at all necessary]]. [[The House of Stuart|Big changes in a short period]] can be very unseemly.
** The Kingdom of Hannover was once in a personal union with the United Kingdom, but they only allowed male heirs causing a split when [[Queen
* Parodied in [https://web.archive.org/web/20100219104149/http://www.theonion.com/content/news/clinton_chastises_hillary_for this] Onion article.
* Absolutely [[Truth in Television]] throughout most of history, and in much of the world. You were an unfortunate queen if you couldn't bear a
** The Iberian example above was not the worst in that corner of Europe. The House of Hapsburg lucked into Castile/Aragon/Burgundy/the Low Countries because the Houses of Valois and Trastámara married a princess into their dynasty and failed to pop out a male heir. To avoid being on the receiving end of this the two branches of their house swapped most of their princesses between the Spanish and Austrian courts. The long term effects of [
** The
* One of the main reasons for this is that it is assumed that a male would be more capable of defending the family possessions in battle. Another is that the system is a feedback loop: if it is assumed that men should be prejudiced in wills it carries its own encouragement, as a female will take land away while a male will bring it in.
* The [[Unfortunate Implications]] of China's One Child Policy is that, since families want male heirs, they've been having (or ''[[Offing the Offspring|keeping]]'') too many sons and not enough daughters, which means not enough wives to go around (which anyone could tell you is what happens when it's only acceptable to have sons!). Oops! The government eventually had to compromise by allowing girls to inherit their family name and giving families "incentives" (read: money) to have baby girls.
** [[Unfortunate Implications]] aside, that ''would'' have been an effective population control in a generation or two.
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* In ancient Rome, if you weren't able to produce a biological heir, adopting one worked just as fine. In fact, the majority of Roman emperors inherited the empire after having been adopted by the previous emperor. Some even disregarded their biological children in favour of an heir of their choosing. Julius Caesar, for example, had a son by Cleopatra, but chose to adopt his sister's grandson as his firstborn son and made him his heir instead. This adopted son later became known as Emperor Augustus, who in turn adopted his wife's first son (fathered by her previous husband) as his heir. This proved to be a smart tactic, as often the person who seemed best suited to take over the empire would be adopted by the emperor, instead of trusting that pure biology would make someone a great leader.
** Julius Caesar couldn't adopt any of his illegitimate sons (he had several, Caesarion was merely the most famous) because they weren't Roman citizens. He had only one child who was a Roman citizen, Julia Caesaris, and she and her infant son predeceased him.
*** Fair point, but
*** Who then went on and murdered Caesarion just in case he would dare to claim the throne as his.
* In Japan, there was a rather large controversy about there not being a suitable male heir to inherit the imperial throne, such that it came to the point that they were about to change the constitution to allow a woman to do so. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your view
** The former Imperial Princess had actually suffered from severe stress-induced illnesses from the pressure, to where her husband actually ''publicly rebuked his whole family'' for it.
*** The actual problem is not a female emperor - there were already some. But in the whole time none of them had a child that inherited the throne. By now this already developed into an unofficial rule and having only a baby girl means that nobody after her can inherit. Another part of the problem is that all other lines of the imperial family were given surnames (
* Five European countries have done away with this altogether: Sweden, the Netherlands, Norway, Belgium, and Denmark. In other words, these countries provide that a woman can inherit the throne ''even if she has younger brothers'' (sometimes known as "absolute primogeniture"). The first of these changes was passed in Sweden effective January 1, 1980, and so far no woman has actually inherited a crown via absolute primogeniture; Sweden's Crown Princess Victoria is likely to eventually become the first woman in the modern world to inherit a crown despite having a living brother. (Even though the Netherlands and Denmark have queens now, those queens didn't have any brothers.)
** There are occasional rumours of the UK doing something similar, and even if they did so the top three in the line of succession (Charles, Elizabeth II's eldest child as well as eldest son and Charles's two sons) wouldn't change. This is complicated by the fact that the Commonwealth nations that are still constitutional monarchies (Australia, New Zealand, Canada, etc.) need to be in agreement otherwise you might wind up with multiple, separate lines of succession or Australia becoming a republic.
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** In light of this, and other, gender tropes, some of these monarchies (UK, Netherlands, Denmark) may give the title of queen to the wife of a male heir, but give a title like prince consort to the husband of a female heir: If they named the husband King, people might get the impression that he's the head of state. Also, from the 1600s to the 1900s it was considered shameful and effeminate in much of the West for a man to take a title, even King, based on his wife's status.
*** The UK example complicates things even further, as because nobody really likes Prince Charles' second wife Camilla, she will probably only ever be referred to as "Princess Consort Camilla" should Charles take the throne, even though she will legally be Queen. Weird, eh?
**** In recent years{{when}} though public opinion has been warming up to Camilla, and when Charles does become King in due time, there might be very few who would object to a Queen Camilla.
* Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden completely averted this trope by making his daughter Christina the heir of the throne. He even ordered that Christina should be brought up as a prince, which means that she received an education that was completely reserved to the males. Her gender role was so inverted that Axel Oxenstierna even wrote that "She is not at all like a female", because she had "a bright intelligence". Although, it must be pointed out that Christina herself didn't like being a queen.
** Unfortunately did not work out so well in this case, and it's notable that Gustavus Adolphus did have older illegitimate children, including one who was a military officer and by all accounts brilliant. Christina tired of ruling, abdicated to her Cousin, and the empire her father put together did not last.
* Also averted by [[Maria Theresa]] of Austria. When a series of unfortunate events killed of all other available male heirs, her father issued a pragmatic sanction that left the Habsburg domains to her. He paid many rulers to accept it and not contest her claim to the throne once she would succeed him. Of course, when he did die, many thought this was a prime opportunity to go back on their word and grab some land. It mostly didn't work out (Silesia was lost to Prussia, the Habsburgs ''almost'' gained Bavaria, but otherwise Maria Theresa went on to rule the Habsburg domains for 40 years).
** For those who don't get the technicality, "Pragmatic Sanction" was the term under Habsburg law for, "exception to normal proceedings issued by Imperial decree". An important succession tangle might be the reason for issuing one, and this one was the most famous Pragmatic Sanction. As might be expected it required a considerable amount of negotiation to butter up the Imperial nobility before getting it through. For more information read Edward Crankshaw's excellent biography of Maria Theresa.
* The Netherlands avert this BIG
** This happened more by coincidence than anything else. Wilhelmina was the sole surviving child of William III, Juliana was a single child, and Beatrix has no male siblings.
* Another [[Real Life]] aversion: [
** Likewise [[Maria Theresa]] (above) was proclaimed '''King''' of Hungary. Moriamur pro rege nostra Maria Theresa!
* It was this issue that started a period in English history known as The Anarchy, when Henry I named his lone surviving child, Matilda, his heir. It was a bit more complicated, in that not only were the Anglo-Norman barons wary of having a woman on the throne, but her husband was from Anjou, Normandy's rival. A faction of barons helped Stephen of Blois onto the throne, which plunged England into 19 years of civil war until a resolution was reached where Stephen's own sons would be bypassed for succession in favor of Matilda's son, the future Henry II, who was the founder of England's Plantagenet dynasty, which of course produced some of England's most famous kings,
**
*** The situation was even more complicated than that: Salic law didn't just bar women from the throne
* This trope still exists today as [[Real Life]] examples can be found in modern China, India, and other nations, where the birth of a female is often met with disappointment. The wish for a male is reinforced by several patriarchal traditions; the male child is usually the one who passes down the family name while the female takes her husband's name, the male child inherits the property while anything inherited by the female goes to her husband, and the male would be responsible for caring for his parents in their old age, while the female was expected to marry into her husband's family and care for ''his'' parents.
** As noted above, this has had rather terrible consequences for China. However, India has not been immune to the same pressures: despite the absence of a policy ''requiring'' that families limit their size, increasing prosperity and a government awareness campaign on overpopulation have caused many Indians to want to limit the size of their families (typically 2-3 children). However, the traditional attitudes remain, and many Indian women selectively abort female children, although this is technically illegal. While the gender ratios in India are nowhere nearly as skewed as in China, it is a problem that the Indian government is taking quite seriously.
*** Lest you think that this is a problem of India and China only, the phenomenon is actually running rampant in the increasingly-prosperous nations of Asia, and to a much lesser extent Africa as well. Perhaps surprisingly, the developing countries of the Arab World have been largely exempt from this; explanations range from the explicit ban on killing female newborns in Islam<ref>A pre-Islamic Arab custom explicitly denounced by God and the Prophet as barbaric</ref> and the abortion taboo in Islamic culture to the Arab custom of giving a dower rather than a dowry (i.e. the groom and his family pay/give a gift to the bride and her family, not the other way around, as in India).
* Dom Pedro II, Emperor of Brazil, reacted differently to the fact that neither of his sons survived: He thought that was a sign that the monarchy was doomed. This was one reason he showed no resistance to being overthrown. Sadly, Brazil pretty much went to hell after his overthrow (republican rule was a ploy by the wealthy landowning <ref>and until a year before the establishment of the Republic,
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