Legitimate appalling successor to Elizabeth the second (6)
I believe the answer is:
lawful
'legitimate' is the definition.
(I know that legitimate can be written as lawful)
'appalling successor to elizabeth the second' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'appalling' could be 'awful' (I've seen this before) and 'awful' is found in the answer.
A single letter 'l' remains which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for lawful that I've seen before include "Right!" , "Allowed" , "Legitimate" , "Licit" , "Legally permitted" .)