Peter Phillips and Autumn Kelly
Posted on 05/03/2008 6:30:52 AM PDT by NYer
.- A woman engaged to a member of the British royal family has renounced her Catholic faith to maintain her fiancée’s position in the line of succession.
The Times Online reports that Autumn Kelly, 31, was received into the Church of England. She is to be married to Peter Phillips, Queen Elizabeth II’s eldest grandson, on May 17.
British monarchs and their heirs are barred from becoming or marrying Catholics according to the 1701 Act of Settlement. Phillips, who is currently eleventh in line to the throne, would have had to renounce his claim had she not converted.
Kelly was reportedly advised for several months before deciding to convert. “She was not asked to do this; she did it of her own accord,” a source told the Daily Telegraph.
A Buckingham Palace spokeswoman confirmed the conversion had taken place and said that, "She was welcomed into the Church of England some time ago."
Kelly, a management consultant from Canada, met Phillips at the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal in 2003. She moved to the United Kingdom to be with him shortly thereafter.
Her parents are said to be enthusiastic about their daughter’s engagement. I’ve met him a few times and he’s a great guy, a really nice person,” her mother, Kathleen, told the Times Online.
She said that she did not think that there would be a problem with her daughter being a “foreigner”.
“I think attitudes to things like that have changed,” she said. “Autumn is a very serious and intelligent young woman. She may be young, but she knows the world. And he’s a great guy. Isn’t that what counts?”
It is not known whether Kelly was a practicing Catholic, though she was educated at Catholic schools.
What a crock. I can’t believe that the monarchy has such a restriction. Especially considering that 90% of the UK is nonreligious at all these days.
Can’t marry a Catholic? Sheesh.
Absolutely! (/sarcasm)
I can’t believe that the monarchy has such a restriction.
______________________________________________
Yes they do
The Queen is the head of the Church of England...the Anglican Church..
I wonder what the Brits would say if the U.S. had a rule like that for muslims.
What does it profit a man (or woman) if he (or her spouse) gain the world (or England) but lose his (or her) immortal soul? A cynical materialistic choice made worse by the fact that this guy’s never going to be king.
It’s a technical issue.
Britain, is not a republic.
More to the point, I wonder...if the prince fell for a relatively secular Pak girl (some of them are attractive, after all), if the muzzies in the UK would be terribly passè about it?
But don’t you think it a bit odd that a Muslim could be in the line of succession, or a Hindu, or a Buddhist, but not a Catholic?
I don’t know if you are coming at it from the Catholic side, but you do know that the Church of England and Roman Catholicism are not too far off from each other, don’t you?
“I can’t believe that the monarchy has such a restriction”
The roots such a restriction was a time when Rome favored Spain over England, hundreds of years ago. Seems like an anachronism today, sure, but whaddya gonna do?
You may as well ask Catholics to ordain women priests for all the good it will do.
You were saying?
;^)
If she cared at all about her faith, she never would have started dating him in the first place. If he is eleventh in line to the throne, he has virtually zero chance of becoming king in first place; so what is the big deal.
“Why Richard, it profits a man nothing to lose his soul for the whole world... but for Wales?”
-Thomas More in “A Man For All Seasons”
Do you suppose members of the royal family watched that movie (the Academy Award Winner of 1966) and squirmed uncomfortably in their seats?
Nah, cynical materialists all.
I stand by my initial post.
That's exactly right. That law in England dating back to 1701 does not require a member of the royal family in the line of succession to be an Anglican -- it prohibits them from being a Catholic.
It seems to me that a nation where Osama bin Laden could be king -- but any Catholic cannot -- isn't long for this world.
Lose her immortal soul?
Wow, you know that for sure?
you should read some history of England.. very interesting reading
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