Deputy Prime Minister congratulates the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge
Nick Clegg has congratulated the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge after it was announced that they are expecting their first child.
The Deputy Prime Minister also said that a new law will “update the old fashioned rules of succession” to ensure that if they have a baby girl she will be able to succeed to the throne regardless of whether she has a younger brother.
Asked for his reaction to the news, the Deputy Prime Minister said:
It’s brilliant, brilliant news. Miriam and I are as happy and excited as I can imagine the rest of the country is at the news that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are going to have a baby. And by happy coincidence, we’re literally working right now in government to put the finishing touches to legislation which will update the very old fashioned rules of succession which mean that if they have a baby girl, regardless of whether the baby girl then has younger brothers in the future, she will be able to succeed to the throne. So it’s a very exciting day, but also we’re making sure that if it is a baby girl, she can be our queen.
It assumes all sorts of things, that it is a baby girl, but we’re making sure, just in case, that the legislation will be changed to ensure that if it is a baby girl, then, even if she has younger brothers in the future, she will be able to succeed to the throne. That is a big, big change and something which the country thinks should have happened a long time ago.