Church Blocks Reforms Over Royal Marriages
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The Church of England has blocked a Government move to scrap a centuries-old law which prevents members of the Royal family from marrying Roman Catholics, The Daily Telegraph has learnt.

Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, began work towards repealing the 1701 Act of Settlement, under which heirs to the throne must renounce their claim on marrying a Roman Catholic, in order to introduce full equality between the faiths.

Talks were held with the Anglican Church as part of wider discussions on constitutional reform, which come under his remit as Deputy Prime Minister.

The reforms have also led to steps being made towards securing the agreement of the Commonwealth to end the common law principle of male primogeniture, under which the younger sons of royalty have precedence over their older sisters.

However, the plan to abolish the Act of Settlement was quietly shelved after the Church raised significant objections centring on the British sovereign’s dual role as Supreme Governor.

Church leaders expressed concern that if a future heir to the throne married a Roman Catholic, their children would be required by canon law to be brought up in that faith.

This would result in the constitutionally problematic situation whereby the Supreme Governor of the Church of England was a Roman Catholic, and so ultimately answerable to a separate sovereign leader, the Pope, and the Vatican.

There is no similar prohibition on the Royal family marrying members of other faiths such as Islam and Judaism, or those who are openly agnostic or atheist. » | Rosa Prince, Political Correspondent | Sunday, April 24, 2011

Attention! Achtung! Now It’s Catholics. Next It Will Be Muslims! Brown Is Just Plain Stupid – and Treasonous! Gordon Brown Opens Way for End to Ban on Monarchs Marrying Catholics
THE TELEGRAPH: Gordon Brown has paved the way for sweeping changes to the 300-year-old law which prevents Roman Catholics ascending to the throne.

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh. Photograph: The Telegraph
Offensive, offensive, all these days is offensive! – © Mark
Mr Brown has made it clear he also wants to change the rule of primogeniture, which prevents women taking their place ahead of men in the line to the throne.

The Prime Minister will travel to a Commonwealth summit in Trinidad today and will raise the controversial issue fellow heads of government.

Last night he was urged to move now to stop discrimination against women and Catholics from becoming the monarch.

Evan Harris, a Liberal Democrat MP, said: “All parties in the House had agreed that discrimination against princesses and Catholic spouses is not justified, and that the language in the Act of Settlement is offensive. >>> Andrew Porter, Political Editor | Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Leave Our Queen and the Institution of the Monarchy Alone, Gordon, You Bully!
THE TELEGRAPH: Hands off the heads that wear the crown, says Andrew Roberts.

Gordon Brown should leave the Act of Settlement alone Photo: Reuters
The news that Gordon Brown has opened talks with Buckingham Palace over altering the 1701 Act of Settlement, which bars members of the Royal family from succeeding to the throne if they marry Roman Catholics, has profound implications for the long-term future of this country. For the Act of Settlement is not the bigoted, irrelevant and obsolete law that Downing Street presents it as – it is one of the key pieces of legislation that has defined what Britain was and still is. For a Prime Minister who claims to care deeply about the concept of Britishness, the Act should be sacrosanct, rather than sacrificed in a gross bout of politically correct gimmickry.

Britain is a Protestant country today largely because of the Act of Settlement. It secured the Hanoverian succession 13 years after the Glorious Revolution replaced the Catholic King James II with the Protestant William III (of Orange) and Mary II. Since the only surviving son of their daughter, the future Queen Anne, had died, it settled the Crown after her upon the Electoress Sophia of Hanover, a granddaughter of James I, and her heirs – if they were Protestants, and married to Protestants, as indeed the four King Georges were.

Because it is a central tenet of the Catholic Church that the children of Catholics should be raised as Catholics, it was understood that marriage of a Royal opened up the possibility either of a Catholic one day sitting on the Throne, or a Catholic parent committing apostasy by allowing their child to be raised as a Protestant – neither of which were desirable outcomes politically, religiously or morally. Since the monarch is also Supreme Head of the (Protestant) Church of England, above whom there is no one in the Church hierarchy – including the Pope – the ban on Catholics makes further sense. Gordon Brown's Assault on the Traditions of the Monarchy Is Preposterous >>> Andrew Roberts | Saturday, March 28, 2009

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback & Hardback) – Free delivery >>>

Beware of Tampering with the Act of Settlement! Today It’s Catholics and Women, Harmless Enough, But Tomorrow It Will Be Muslims!
The Crown of England, known as St. Edward's Crown, is the one with which the King is crowned when he ascends the throne. It was made for the Coronation of Charles II., and fashioned as nearly as possible after the pattern of the ancient crown destroyed by the Commonwealth. [Source: LondonOnline] Photo: Google Images
TIMESONLINE: Gordon Brown has opened talks with Buckingham Palace and Commonwealth leaders over abolishing the Act of Settlement which bars Catholics from the Royal Family.

Mr Brown is also pressing for collective action to end primogeniture which favours males over over female heirs to the British monarchy.

The bar on Catholics has long been regarded as a symbol of sectarian prejudice but according to some legal opinion its abolition requires legislation in every nation of which the Queen is sovereign.

The issue is to be debated in the Commons for the first time today, thanks to a Private Memberrs Bill laid by Dr Evan Harris, a Lib Dem MP. Dr Harris says that Commonwealth countries need to be consulted as a matter of courtesy, but there is no legal obligation for them to change their constitutions. >>> Francis Elliott, Deputy Political Editor | Friday, March 27, 2009

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback & Hardback) – Free delivery >>>