Editing Act of Settlement 1701 (section)

=== Succession to the Crown ===
In addition to excluding [[James II of England|James II]], who died a few months after the act received royal assent, and his Roman Catholic children, [[James Francis Edward Stuart|Prince James]] (''The Old Pretender'') and the [[Louisa Maria Stuart|Princess Royal]], the Act also excluded the descendants of Princess [[Henrietta of England|Henrietta]], the youngest sister of James II. Henrietta's only child with surviving issue was [[Anne Marie d'Orléans|Anne]], Queen of Sardinia, a Roman Catholic, from whom descend all [[Jacobite succession|Jacobite pretenders]] after 1807.

With the legitimate descendants of [[Charles I of England|Charles I]] either childless (in the case of his two grand-daughters the late Queen [[Mary II]] and her successor Queen [[Anne, Queen of Great Britain|Anne]]) or Roman Catholic, Parliament's choice was limited to Sophia of Hanover, the Protestant daughter of the late [[Elizabeth of Bohemia]], the only other child of [[James VI and I|King James I]] to have survived childhood. Elizabeth had borne nine children who reached adulthood, of whom [[Sophia of Hanover|Sophia]] was the youngest daughter. However in 1701 Sophia was the senior Protestant one, therefore with a legitimate claim to the English throne; Parliament passed over her Roman Catholic siblings, namely her sister [[Louise Hollandine of the Palatinate]], and their descendants, who included [[Elizabeth Charlotte, Madame Palatine|Elizabeth Charlotte, Duchess of Orléans]]; [[Louis Otto, Prince of Salm]], and his aunts; [[Anne Henriette of Bavaria|Anne Henriette, Princess of Condé]], and [[Benedicta Henrietta of the Palatinate|Benedicta Henrietta, Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg]].