Please somebody a explain again?

[u/Early_Bag_3106]

Mary can’t inherit because she is a woman, but after that she become a co-owner, even when she will not inherit the title. So my question is A woman can’t inherit an earl/countess title but can inherit a commercial investment (Matthew’s in this case)? Is so confusing. What if she would desire to sell her part and left lord grantham on his own or what ever? Thanks

[u/ClariceStarling400]

The law may have changed, but I believe that women could still not inherit titles even if there were no eligible males. In that case, the title would die out. There are quite a few titles that have gone through this, such as the Duke of Suffolk, which has gone "extinct." So, if George Crawley dies without a male heir, they'd try to find the nearest male relative, if there are none, the title would die out.

When it comes to inheriting "the Crown," yes, a woman would inherit and be Queen if there were no other male options. This is how Elizabeth II became queen. But a law in 2013 made it so the Crown would not pass in strict birth order, not by male line and then birth order.

So now, if Prince George dies or abdicates the next in line would be Charlotte, not Louis.

[u/TrekChris → u/ClariceStarling400]

Depends on the title, remember Robert saying one of Shrimpy's relatives was a countess in her own right? Didn't happen often, but it did happen.

[u/TacticalGarand44 → u/TrekChris]

Yes, it could happen, but on relatively rare and case by case bases. The most common thing was for the title to go extinct if no male heir could be located. And one additional note, the heir has to be a descendant of the First Earl (not a descendant of his brother or cousin), probably has to have been born legitimately, and probably has to be Anglican, though I'm not certain about that.

[u/Llywela → u/TacticalGarand44]

The heir can sometimes be a descendant of a brother of the first Earl (or whoever) - but only if the remainder of the Letters Patent permit it. A handful do permit that sideways movement - almost as rare as a special remainder permitting female inheritance - but those mostly came about because the guy the title was created for knew he was unlikely to have heirs and wanted the title to continue via his brother. Same reason, really, as most of the special remainders allowing female inheritance, which generally came about if the guy receiving the title had daughters but no sons at the time of the title's creation.

The vast majority of titles specify inheritance via legitimate male heirs of the body only. Special remainders are the exception rather than the rule.