D&D General A King with A Common Born wife has A 20 month old common born niece that he's very fond of, when the niece is orphaned could he adopt her?

[Reef]

Who says she can’t be named heir to the throne?

 

[JMISBEST]

Who says she can’t be named heir to the throne

Who says she can’t be named heir to the throne?

Theirs 2 very good reasons. The 1st is that she's only royalty by adoption and the 2nd is that she's a commoner

 

[Reef]

Theirs 2 very good reasons. The 1st is that she's only royalty by adoption and the 2nd is that she's a commoner

Well, in that case, I’d say whoever was enforcing those rules are the ones you need to ask about the original adoption.

 

[Seramus]

The king can do whatever the heck he wants.

There might be political consequences, people chuffed about what she might or might not inherit, people who want their own children adopted, etc.

But it's his party, he can adopt who he wants, adopt who he wants, you would adopt too if kingship happened to you.

 

[pogre]

I would think she could be adopted, titled, but largely treated as a royal bastard. I think her marriage candidates would be significantly wider than a princess.

But, that's in my campaign.

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

The king makes the rules. It's good to be the king.

 

[jasper]

I've thought of a unusual but plausible situation for Dnd. What do people think?

A King with A Common Born wife and through her he has A 20 month old common born niece that he's very fond of, when the niece is orphaned could he adopt her?

The king can do as they will. You could go the honor harrington route and the crown has to marry a commoner.

 

[theCourier]

No. I do not allow it.

 

[Wolfram stout]

The king can do it but there will be problems. With the amount of forces that the nobles in your world have (From Kings down to minor Barons) there is always going to be cutting edge tension.

Now there is undoubtedly a group of Nobles looking to undermine the King. This will not cause them to outright rebel but it will raise tension, and may cause a few other nobles to float to their side. Also, there will be Nobles that will seek to get close to the girl in order to manipulate her to serve their own ends.

This Is The Way.

 

[Zardnaar]

Note that in Medieval and Renaissance times, "adoption" wasn't what it is today.

Broadly speaking, a noble could have any number of fosterlings or wards. Making sure the niece is cared for is easy.

Whether that child could be named heir to that noble line, which is closer to our modern idea of "adoption" - making the niece legally a child of the King, is another matter entirely, based solely on the laws of succession in the particular place. There is no general answer to that. Even if technically legal, suddenly putting a commoner in line for the throne would typically be... somewhere between controversial to grounds for a civil war, depending on the details of the political situation.

It also may not be good for the girl - because if she's made heir, every noble family with a bachelor son would be seeking to marry the girl into their family, so their son would be king...

Virtually unheard of irl. Hell last time a bastard took the throne in England was 1066.

OP in your game it depends. If she's not in the line of succession sure why not.

Even if she is it depends on your world but if it's based on real life the odds fall between slim to none.

There was no universal rule who could take the throne or not it varied by the succession laws of the country. For example England women could inherit, France they couldn't and in Russua you additionally had to marry a near peer so an Imperial prince needed an imperial princess.

It's your game though do what you want.