But what will replace primogeniture for landed people? Traditionalists argue that if an estate, however small, is to survive it has to be kept intact, so France’s Napoleonic Code, where everything is divided equally, is not viable. Yet to leave all to the eldest child seems a little like replacing one tyranny with another, with age instead of sex the more politically correct deciding factor.
The sex of the royal baby, when it arrives in July, is crucial. If it’s a boy the legislation will have to wait for another generation to have any impact. But if it’s a girl, the times will start a-changing.
