An heir (female: heiress) is a person who has inherited something after the original owner's death. It is often a child after a parent dies.
Heir apparent and heir presumptive usually refer to someone who will inherit a royal or noble title:
- An heir apparent is someone who will inherit at the death of the present title-holder.
- A Crown Prince is an heir apparent to the throne in a monarchy.
- An heir presumptive is someone who may inherit unless someone with a better claim under the rules of succession is found.
- Prince Bertil of Sweden was the heir presumptive to his nephew King Carl XVI Gustav. The King's son, Prince Carl Philip became heir apparent when he was born, but when in 1980 the law of succession changed, his sister Princess Victoria became the world's first heiress apparent.