Future legitimate issue of the Prince of Monaco

On 30 May 2014, it was announced that Albert II, Prince of Monaco and Charlene, Princess of Monaco were expecting their first child by the end of the year. On 9 October 2014, it was confirmed in an interview that they are expecting twins. The Line of succession to the Monegasque throne is based on male-preference cognatic primogeniture with males preceding females within the same degree of kinship. This means that if at least one of the twins is male, the eldest male child will be the heir apparent and first in the line of succession when born. If neither child is male then the eldest female child will become the heir presumptive and first in the line of succession when born. Regardless of the [...] of the twins, both of them will automatically displace Caroline, Princess of Hanover who is currently first in line to the Monegasque throne.

A child of the sovereign of Monaco has the title of Prince or Princess (Name) of Monaco. The heir apparent or heir presumptive will also be the Hereditary Prince or Princess of Monaco. Traditionally, a male Hereditary Prince is also given the title Marquis of Baux, which Albert has held since his birth.

Background

, Jazmin Grace Grimaldi and Alexandre Coste. Albert's lack of legitimate children created a Succession issue near the end of the reign of his father, Rainier III, Prince of Monaco. Then only the legitimate descendants or adopted children of the sovereign of Monaco could succeed to the throne and if there were no legitimate descendants of the sovereign Monaco would become a protectorate of France. This meant that if Albert succeeded to the throne and died without having children the throne would be left vacant, or if he adopted any children the genealogical line of the House of Grimaldi would be broken. In 2002 Rainier resolved the crisis by modifying the Constitution of Monaco to allow for the sovereign of Monaco's legitimate siblings and their legitimate descendants to be in the line of succession in the event of the sovereign not having any legitimate descendants.

Rumours first started that the Princely couple were expecting twins when Derek Watts, a former schoolmate of Charlene's father congratualted them publicly on Twitter.