A
system of
succession in a
monarchy where the
current monarch's oldest
offspring is
heir apparent to the
throne,
regardless of
gender. This
differs from most "
modern" monarchies in the
world where females
generally only will be heirs if there are no
male children to the monarch (known as
agnatic succession), or even that females may only
inherit the throne if there are no male
relatives at all to the monarch (known as
agnatic-cognatic succession).
Cognatic succession is used in for example Sweden, even though it wasn't put into use until 1980 (after a change to the constitution following the birth of the monarch's first child, Princess Victoria (now Crown Princess), in 1978).