History of the English line of succession of succession was governed by the Third Succession Act: Upon Henry's death, the throne passed to Henry's son, who became Edward VI. On the day of Edward VI's death, 6 July 1553, the line of succession to the English throne was as follows according to the will of Henry VIII, which excluded the descendants of his elder sister, Margaret, Queen of Scotland (note: Henry VIII's will was signed with a dry stamp rather than his hand, a technicality that eventually allowed the Stuarts to succeed): Edward VI left a Device for the Succession, in an attempt to remove the peculiarity
Edward VIII abdication crisis lawyer's clerk). At Fort Belvedere, on 10 December, Edward signed his written abdication notices, witnessed by his three younger brothers: Prince Albert, Duke of York (who succeeded Edward as George VI); Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester; and Prince George, Duke of Kent. The following day, it was given effect by Act of Parliament: His Majesty's Declaration of Abdication Act 1936. Under changes introduced in 1931 by the Statute of Westminster, a single Crown for the entire empire had been replaced by multiple crowns, one for each Dominion, worn by a single monarch in an organisation then known as the British