The U.K. Constitution

The U.K. constitution is uncodified, meaning it isn’t contained in a single, formal document. Instead, it’s a collection of statutes, conventions, judicial decisions, and treaties that establish the principles and rules by which the United Kingdom is governed.

When it comes to royalty there is an Act of Parliament that discriminates against Catholics. The Act of Parliament that prevents a Catholic from being King (or Queen) of the U.K. is the Act of Settlement 1701.

This Act was passed by the Parliament of England to ensure a Protestant succession to the throne. It stipulated that only Protestants could inherit the crown and that anyone who became a Roman Catholic, or married a Roman Catholic, would be disqualified from inheriting the throne.

While the Act has been amended in recent years (notably by the Succession to the Crown Act 2013, which ended male primogeniture and removed the disqualification for marrying a Catholic), the core provision that the monarch must be a Protestant and in communion with the Church of England remains.

I bring this up because the Duchess of Kent who was married to the Duke of Kent, cousin to Queen Elizabeth II and hence related to King Charles III died recently and is due to have a service today at Westminster Cathedral, the premier Catholic Church in England. This is because the Duchess converted to Catholicism in 1994. Since she was female this did not effect the line of succession of the Duke due to the Crown Act 2013 which changed the rules slightly. The Duchess was never in the line of succession.

Attending the Requiem Mass will be the King and other members of the Royal Family but not the Queen Consort Camilla who apparently is unwell, but will be fine for the State Visit of Trump who arrives in the country later today.

To me this seems that Camilla is anti-Catholic or maybe even non religious. If the King, who is the Head of the Church of England (Anglicanism) can attend, this does show that things are improving.

In the Twenty-First Century, it is a disgrace that the Act of Settlement 1701 has not been repealed but the difficulty lies with the Monarch being Head of the State Religion and so it raises constitutional issues as if the Act was repealed the King would have to stop being the Head of the Church.