Posted on 03/27/2009 10:01:05 AM PDT by Alex Murphy
A PARLIAMENTARY move to end discrimination against Roman Catholics and women in the rules of succession to the throne have been was blocked by the Government.
Although the Prime Minister has admitted he has opened talks with Buckingham Palace over laws preventing heirs to the throne from marrying Roman Catholics, he has gone on record as saying there were no “easy answers”' to changing the 1701 Act of Settlement.
Catholics are from succeeding to the throne, which even prevents minor members of royalty from converting to or marrying into Catholic Church.
The law dates from the time when the protestant succession was established. If the law is to change, it must be approved by all countries of countries in which the British royal family is head of state. Constitutional talks must also take place because the monarch is also head of the Church of England and Church of Scotland.
There is more support for removing primogeniture of men in the succession. If the law is changed while the Queen is on the throne, the Princess Royal will move ahead of her younger brother Andrew and Edward and their children, to become fourth in line until such time as Prince William marries and has children of his own.
Justice Secretary Jack Straw told MPs that today's attempts to change the law, spearheaded by Liberal Democrat Evan Harris, was not the appropriate vehicle for such a major change. Altering the constitution would have to be promoted by the Government, and not a backbench MP.
Mr Straw was still speaking when time ran out at 2.30pm and the Royal Marriages and Succession to the Crown (Prevention of Discrimination) Bill now stands no chance of being enacted.
Dr Harris told the Commons: “This is a welcome opportunity to debate what I think most people would consider to be outrageous discrimination in our constitution against Roman Catholics and equally unfair treatment of women.” And it was “not acceptable in this day and age”' that the Princess Royal was lower down the line of succession than her younger brothers.
The law dates from the time when the protestant succession was established. If the law is to change, it must be approved by all countries of countries in which the British royal family is head of state. Constitutional talks must also take place because the monarch is also head of the Church of England and Church of Scotland....
....Justice Secretary Jack Straw told MPs that today's attempts to change the law, spearheaded by Liberal Democrat Evan Harris, was not the appropriate vehicle for such a major change. Altering the constitution would have to be promoted by the Government, and not a backbench MP.
From what language was this article translated???
1521: The Vatican gives Henry VIII the title of Defender of the Faith after the king rejects the teachings of Protestant reformers, notably Martin Luther.
1529: Cardinal Thomas Wolsey fails to persuade the Vatican to grant Henry VIII a divorce from Catherine of Aragon.
1532: Henry's chief minister, Thomas Cromwell, pushes through several reforms limiting papal power. The pope endorses Thomas Cranmer as archbishop of Canterbury but Cranmer then grants Henry a divorce. Anne Boleyn is crowned queen.
Pope excommunicates Henry and parliament enacts laws to formally break with Rome.
1534: An Act of Submission of the Clergy and an Act of Succession, together with an Act of Supremacy, recognise that the king is "the only supreme head of the Church of England".
1535: Henry's former chancellor, Thomas More, becomes the most notable opponent of the break with Rome to be executed.
1547: Edward VI strengthens the Protestant identity of the new Church of England. Book of Common Prayer introduced in 1549.
1553: Reformist Lady Jane Grey rules for nine days but country rallies to Catherine of Aragon's daughter, Mary, who becomes queen. Jane is executed and Mary restores the Catholic faith. Some 300 Protestant dissenters are executed during her reign.
1558: Anne Boleyn's daughter, Elizabeth, succeeds her half-sister, who failed to produce an heir.
1563: The 39 Articles of Religion establish the foundation of beliefs practised by the English Anglican church and are seen as moderate and avoiding some of the more puritanical Protestant ideals.
1570: A papal bull releases her subjects from loyalty to Elizabeth; she responds with harsh anti-Catholic laws.
1588: Elizabeth defeats the Spanish armada, which had aimed to restore Catholicism.
1603: James I becomes king.
1605: The foiling of Guy Fawkes and the gunpowder plotters leads to more strict anti-Catholic laws.
1649: King Charles I is executed, and Oliver Cromwell's staunchly Protestant commonwealth replaces the monarchy. The interregnum lasts 11 years.
1660: The monarchy is restored and Charles II becomes king. He is viewed with suspicion by some Protestants and converts to Catholicism on his deathbed in 1685.
1685: Charles II's brother, James II, himself a Catholic convert, takes the throne.
1688-89: William and Mary of Orange overthrow James II and legislation is enacted to exclude Catholics from the throne. The sovereign is later required to defend the Protestant faith in the coronation oath.
1701: The Act of Settlement insists the monarch cannot be Catholic and cannot marry a Catholic.
1978: The Queen's cousin, Prince Michael of Kent, is removed from the line of succession after marrying Marie-Christine von Reibnitz, a Catholic.
2008: Autumn Kelly renounces her Catholic faith, allowing her new husband Peter Phillips, the Queen's grandson, to keep his place in the line of succession.
2009: Downing Street discloses talks have taken place to end the ban on heirs to the throne marrying Catholics and to ensure that a female will be ahead of a younger male sibling in the line of succession.
Hey, in the US, foreigners are exempt from becoming President, but that hasn't stopped 0dumbo - - - -YET.
That’s okay though. Thanks to the Church of England, it will sooner be valid for the prince to marry a gay queen than a straight Roman Catholic.
You make an excellent point!
Maryland is named for Queen Henrietta Maria.
Tradition Rules! UK.
Apparently it’s OK for a member of the royal family to marry a Muslim????????
It’s strange that when the topic comes up about Catholics, no one ever mentions the elephant in the room!
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