Community | September 25, 2008 | 2 comments

Catholics and first born daughters to be allowed on UK throne

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Downing Street is planning to end the 300-year-old exclusion of Catholics from the British throne. The requirement that the succession automatically pass to a male would also be reformed, making it possible for a first born daughter of Prince William to become his heir.

The 1688 Bill of Rights , the Act of Settlement in 1701 and Act of Union in 1707 - reinforced by the provisions of the Coronation Oath Act 1688 - effectively excluded Catholics or their spouses from the succession and provided for the exclusively Protestant succession. Neither Catholics nor those who marry them nor those born to them out of wedlock may be in the line of succession. The law also requires the monarch on accession to make before parliament a declaration rejecting Catholicism.

Critics have long argued about the law's relevance in the 21st century, saying it institutionalises religious discrimination and male primogeniture.
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