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In male-preference [[primogeniture]] (in the past called cognatic primogeniture) the monarch's eldest son and his descendants take precedence over his siblings and their descendants. Elder sons take precedence over younger sons, but all sons take precedence over daughters. A female member of a dynasty can succeed to the throne if and only if she has no living brothers and no deceased brothers who left surviving legitimate descendants. Children represent their deceased ancestors, and the senior line of descent always takes precedence over the junior line, within each gender. The right of succession belongs to the eldest son of the reigning sovereign (see [[heir apparent]]), and next to the eldest son of the eldest son.
This is the system in [[Spain]] and [[Monaco]], and was the system used in the ancient kingdoms of [[Kingdom of England|England]] and [[Kingdom of Scotland| Scotland]] and later, the [[Kingdom of Great Britain]] and finally, the [[United Kingdom]] and the [[Commonwealth realm]]s (
It was also practised in almost all of the separate kingdoms of the Indian subcontinent until the [[Indian independence movement]]. In a lot of these kingdoms, adoption was allowed from a relative if a monarch didn't have children, and the adopted child could succeed to the throne at the death of the monarch. A lot of times, the wife or mother of a childless king were allowed to succeed to the throne as well and allowed to rule as queen regnants in their own rights, until their death, after which the throne passed to the next closest relative.
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