The prince of Wales, or heir apparent to the crown, and alſo his royal conſort, and the princeſs royal, or eldeſt daughter of the king, are likewiſe peculiarly regarded by the laws. For, by ſtatute 25 Edw. III, to compaſs or conſpire the death of the former, or to violate the chaſtity of either of the latter, are as much high treaſon, as to conſpire the death of the king, or violate the chaſtity of the queen. And this upon the ſame reaſon, as was before given; becauſe the prince of Wales is next in ſucceſſion to the crown, and to violate his wife might taint the blood royal with baſtardy: and the eldeſt daughter of the king is alſo alone inheritable to the crown, in failure of iſſue male, and therefore more reſpected by the laws than any of her younger ſiſters; inſomuch that upon this, united with other (feodal) principles, while our military tenures were in force, the king might levy an aid for marrying his eldeſt daughter, and her only. The heir apparent to the crown is uſually made prince of Wales and earl of Cheſter, by ſpecial creation, and inveſtiture; but, being the king’s eldeſt ſon, he is by inheritance duke of Cornwall, without any new creation[1].
The younger ſons and daughters of the king, who are not in the immediate line of ſucceſſion, are little farther regarded by the laws, than to give them precedence before all peers and public officers as well eccleſiaſtical as temporal. This is done by the ſtatute 31 Hen. VIII. c. 10. which enacts that no perſon, except the king’s children, ſhall prefume to ſit or have place at the ſide of the cloth of eſtate in the parliament chamber; and that certain great officers therein named ſhall have precedence above all dukes, except only ſuch as ſhall happen to be the king’s ſon, brother, uncle, nephew (which ſir Edward Coke[2] explains to ſignify grandſon or nepos) or brother’s or ſiſter’s ſon. But under the deſcription of the king’s children his grandſons are held to be included, without having recourſe to ſir Edward Coke’s inter-
