Greek Books of Common Prayer and Heirs Apparent

I had to revisit an old bit of cataloging yesterday when a customer demanded that I justify my claim that a little Book of Common Prayer published by Samuel Bagster was indeed published in 1820. There was of course no date in the book itself. In the course of the researches I learnt the difference between being Heir Presumptive and Heir Apparent to the British throne. So will you if you read on.

I had worked out all this about the date months ago when I first catalogued the book, but yesterday had to retrace my steps.

The first hurdle was to find the listing on the British Library database. They actually list the title in Greek and I have not worked out if one can put Greek letters into their search. The secret is to search for "liturgies" and "Samuel Bagster" and then a list of their Prayer Books comes up. At the end are two editions of this Greek BCP, for 1820 and 1823.

At this point the detective work becomes more complicated. Looking at the prayers for the King and Royal Family in our copy one sees that the King prayed for is George, and the Prince of Wales (if my reading of the Greek is correct) was also called George.

George III died in 1820. While he was alive the Prince of Wales was the Prince Regent, who became George VI after him. So there was a period in 1820 while George III was alive when he
was king and there was a George, Prince of Wales. This fits with our copy of the Prayer Book.

Whereas the 1823 edition does not fit. By 1823 the king was still called George (ie. George IV) but there was no Prince of Wales as he did not have a son. His heir was his younger brother William, who, however, was Heir Presumptive and not Heir Apparent. Only Heirs Apparent can be made Prince of Wales, so William was not made Prince of Wales.

An Heir Apparent is someone who whatever happens, will be the next occupant of the throne. As the law stands at present males are always considered first amongst the offspring of a monarch, so the eldest son would automatically be Heir Apparent. However, if there is not a son, then the next in line to the throne is just Heir Presumptive - they will inherit the throne if the king dies tomorrow, but in the long term they may be downgraded from their position if the monarch has a son. This was the case with George IV's brother William. In theory George might have sired a son at any time, in which case William would not inherit the throne.

There was a similar case when George VI was king from the 1930s till 1951. His eldest daughter, Elizabeth, was Heir Presumptive but not Heir Apparent as in theory her father might have fathered a son before he died. He didn't of course, and she did become our present Queen.