system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5 How the Royal Family Works - Who becomes what (king, queen, prince, etc) when people die?

My friends an I are arguing and can't find the information to help us understand. We're from NY and very confused.

Help us British redditors, you are our only hope.
gpt
You're question is incredibly vague :L But I'll try to answer, based on the assumptions that:

- You mean the British Royal family
- You just want an overview of the laws of succession

**The Current Order of Succession is:**

- Queen Elizabeth II
- Prince Charles (Elizabeth's eldest child)
- Prince William (Charles' eldest child)
- Prince X (William's eldest child)
- Prince Harry (Charles' second child)

When the ruling King/Queen dies, the throne passes to their eldest child. It used to be that it would always pass to a son before a daughter (So if a King had a 20 year old daughter and a 1 year old son, the throne would go to the son first). This was recently changed, due to society becoming more equal than when the laws were first written.
After them, the throne goes to their oldest child etc. If they have no children, it goes to their eldest sibling, then the sibling's children.

The title of Prince/Princess goes to the children of the King/Queen, and any children in the MALE line. So the children of a Prince are Prince/Princesses, but the children of a Princess aren't. This may change due to the new laws.

Princes prefer to use other titles if they have them. The reason that Prince William is the Duke of Cambridge is because he was awarded that title. An awarded title is more impressive than one you automatically get. The Queen's husband is called Prince Phillip, because although women get their husband's titles, men don't get their wife's (Similar to surname). Phillip is already a Prince, as he's a member of a different Royal Family (Prince of Greece and Denmark).

If you have any more specific question's, I'd be happy to answer!