Wars of the Roses a "sudden narrowing in the direct line of descent" near the end of his reign. His eldest son, Edward, the Black Prince, had died the year before. Edward III was succeeded on the throne by the Black Prince's only surviving son Richard II, who was only 10 years old. Richard's claim to the throne was based on the principle that the son of an elder brother had priority in the succession over his uncles. Since Richard was a minor, had no siblings, and had three living uncles at the time of Edward III's death, there was considerable uncertainty about who
Prince of Wales York. Prior to his father inheriting the English throne in 1603, the future Charles I was created Duke of Albany and Earl of Ross in Scotland. Both Prince Frederick (eldest son of George II) and his son Prince George (later George III) were Duke of Edinburgh. The title Prince of Wales is given only to the heir apparent—somebody who cannot be displaced in the succession to the throne by any future birth. The succession had followed male-preference primogeniture, which meant that the heir apparent was the eldest son of the reigning monarch or, if he was deceased, "his" eldest son