Legitimacy law in England and Wales is governed by the pertinent legislation (Legitimacy Act 1926

Legitimacy Act 1926

The Legitimacy Act 1926 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.-Act:The Act allowed children to be legitimised by the subsequent marriage of their parents, provided that neither parent had been married to a third party at the time of the birth...

, Legitimacy Act 1959

Legitimacy Act 1959

The Legitimacy Act 1959 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was repealed by the Family Law Reform Act 1987.-Act:Prior to the passing of the Act, legitimacy was governed by the Legitimacy Act 1926. Under that act, the marriage of a child's parents after its birth did not...

, Family Law Reform Act 1987) and by case law

Case law

In law, case law is the set of reported judicial decisions of selected appellate courts and other courts of first instance which make new interpretations of the law and, therefore, can be cited as precedents in a process known as stare decisis...

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Provisions

Section 2 of the Legitimacy Act 1976 provides as follows:
Extract from Hershman McFarlane Section A.5

Application to the succession to the British throne

While children who are born to parents who are unmarried at the time of birth but subsequently marry are thereby made legitimate, this does not apply to the succession to the British throne

Succession to the British Throne

Succession to the British throne is governed both by common law and statute. Under common law the crown is currently passed on by male-preference primogeniture. In other words, succession passes first to an individual's sons, in order of birth, and subsequently to daughters, again in order of birth....

. The Legitimacy Act 1926, 10 (1) says, "Nothing in this Act shall affect the Succession to any dignity or title of honour or render any person capable of succeeding to or transmitting a right to succeed to any such dignity or title." The Legitimacy Act 1959, 6 (4) says, "It is hereby declared that nothing in this Act affects the Succession to the Throne."