Profile of Michael Hastings on Famous Like Me

Michael Edward Abney-Hastings, 14th Earl of Loudoun (born 1942) is an British-born Australian rice researcher. He lives in Jerilderie, New South Wales, after moving there in the 1960s. He is the son of Barbara Abney-Hastings, 13th Countess of Loudoun, and succeeded her as Earl of Loudoun in 2002.

Lord Loudoun is the heir-general of George, Duke of Clarence. In 2004, a documentary broadcast on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom claimed that King Edward IV of England was biologically illegitimate, and therefore that Lord Loudoun is the rightful King of England (and thus also Australia). The programme attracted widespread attention in the United Kingdom.

Opponents of this claim argue that Edward's biological legitimacy does not affect his legal status as son and heir to Richard, Duke of York, as a child born to a married woman is legally presumed to be her husband's if the husband does not deny paternity, which Richard never did; that the claims of King Henry VII to the English throne were based upon his Lancastrian descent and the right of conquest, rather than his marriage to Edward IV's eldest daughter; and that the succession to the throne at present is regulated by the Act of Settlement 1701, and not by the question of who is the heir-general of Edward III of England.

Those supporting the claim of the documentary use the theory 'At the time of Edward's ascension to the throne, the law of the land was that the heir had to be legitimate. As it has now been proved that he was not legitimate, his heirs were not legitimate and did not have the right to pass on the throne, and so on. The right of conquest would not be a factor, as they were not conquering a legitimate king'. Supporters of Lord Loudoun's claim add that the Act of Settlement 1701 is invalid, as William III of England was not the rightful king, and therefore a parliament summoned by him had no legal status and the Act did not receive the Royal Assent, as it was not approved by the legitimate monarch at the time, George Hastings, 8th Earl of Huntingdon. Their case can also draw support from the doubtful validity of Edward IV's marriage to Elizabeth Woodville, which allows them to argue that even if Edward was legitimate, his descendants were not.

Lord Loudoun is also one of the heirs (and possibly the heir general) of Lady Eleanor Brandon, the only child of the youngest daughter of Henry VII who has now living uncontestedly legitimate descendants. According to the parliament-sanctioned will of Henry VIII of England (which denied rights of the Scottish line of his elder sister), at the death of Elizabeth I of England the rightful successor was Lady Anne Stanley, whose legitimate issue has afterwards went extinct, leaving that right to descendants of Anne's sisters, of whom the Earl is one, in legitimate line. However, King James VI of Scotland ascended the throne on Elizabeth's death, contrary to the provisions of Henry's will.

Lord Loudoun is a committed (Australian) republican and has expressed no interest in pursuing his claims to the English throne, although he is amused by them. He has two sons and three daughters. His eldest son Simon holds the courtesy title Lord Mauchline. He is currently one of the seven co-heirs to the Barony of Grey de Ruthyn.

Friends of the Abney-Hastings family in Australia have said that Simon is more likely than his father to pursue the claim to the English throne when he inherits it.

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