Over a decade ago, several news outlets published an exhaustive list of persons who were in the line of succession to the British throne. It had included 4,973 people, excluding the current monarch at the time, Queen Elizabeth II. One person in particular caught people's attention. Her name is Karin Vogel, and she is the last person in the line of succession.
What put her on the list? It goes way back to, presumably, the common ancestor of all the people in the line of succession, Sophia of Hanover, who was the granddaughter of King James VI and I (as King of Scotland and as King of England and Ireland, respectively, after the Union of the Crowns).
The Act of Settlement 1701 became the precedent for determining who belongs to the line of succession, and one of the reasons why Karin Vogel is included in it. The act states that the English and Irish crowns can only be passed to Protestants. Anyone in the royal lineage who became Roman Catholic or married one, was automatically disqualified.
Vogel is the youngest of three siblings and is working as a therapist in Rostock, Germany. When asked about her thoughts on being the last in line to the British throne, she simply relished the fact that she has no need to worry about Great Britain.
Her elder brothers and their children come before her in the line of succession so, only in the highly unlikely event that the almost 5,000 people who come before her suddenly disappear, will she have to worry about being crowned queen. For now, she is quite happy helping elderly people with chronic pain issues.
(Image credit: Karin Vogel/Eurohistory)