Get in line.

Much discussion recently about who should be our next King.  Calls in the popular press for it to be William, whilst he himself is on record as saying he is content to wait his turn.  All this ignores the clear constitutional position.  Upon the death or abdication of a monarch, the next in line succeeds automatically and immediately - hence the saying "The King is dead, long live the King".  Charles - assuming he is still alive - will succeed the present Queen, whether he wants to or not.  He might then of course decide to abdicate, in which case William would then succeed him, but it would be his (Charles') decision to make - there is no provision for the succession to skip a generation as it were.