The Esoteric Wordsmyth
Heir Apparent vs Heir Presumptive
An heir apparent or heiress apparent is someone who cannot be displaced from inheriting, except by a change in the rules of succession.
An heir presumptive or heiress presumptive, by contrast, is someone who is currently in line to inherit a title but whose claim can be displaced at any time; in legal terms, is ‘subject to divestiture’, upon the occurrence of one or more events or sets of events for which the system of inheritance allows, such as the birth of a more eligible heir.
Today these terms most commonly describe heirs to hereditary titles, particularly monarchies. They are also used metaphorically to indicate an ‘anointed’ successor to any position of power, e.g., a political or corporate leader.
The phrase is only occasionally found used as a title, where it usually is capitalized ‘Heir Apparent’. Most monarchies give, or gave, the heir apparent the title of Crown Prince or a more specific title, such as Prince of Orange in the Netherlands, Prince of Asturias in Spain, or Prince of Wales in the United Kingdom.
In a hereditary system governed by some form of primogeniture, an heir apparent is easily identifiable as the person whose position as first in the line of succession is secure, regardless of future births. An heir presumptive, by contrast, can always be ‘bumped down’ in the succession by the birth of somebody more closely related in a legal sense (according to that form of primogeniture) to the current title-holder.
The clearest example occurs in the case of a title-holder with no children. If at any time they produce children, they, the offspring of the title-holder, rank ahead of whatever more ‘distant’ relative, the title-holder's sibling, perhaps, or a nephew or cousin, previously was heir presumptive.
Many legal systems assume childbirth is always possible, regardless of age or health. The possibility of a fertile octogenarian, though slim in reality, is never ruled out. In such circumstances a person may be, in a practical sense, the heir apparent but still, legally speaking, heir presumptive.
Origin: 1325–75; Middle English.
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