Commonwealth nations on Friday agreed to scrap centuries-old laws barring first-born daughters or anyone married to a Roman Catholic from inheriting the British throne.
British Prime Minister David Cameron said the agreement, unanimously backed by all 16 nations where Queen Elizabeth II is head of state, represented an “historic moment” for the monarchy.
He said the changes, which will have to be formally approved by the affected nations, would sweep aside “outdated rules [that] just don’t make sense to us anymore.”
“We will end the male primogeniture rule so that in future the order of succession should be determined simply by the order of birth,” Cameron told reporters at a meeting of Comonwealth leaders in western Australian city of Perth.
“We have agreed to scrap the rule which says that no one that marries a Roman Catholic can become monarch,” he added.
Cameron will introduce legislation in Britain before the next general election to ensure that the changes will apply to any children of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Officials say the changes will apply even if a child is born -before the new legislation is passed.
Buckingham Palace is understood to be supportive.
Cameron has the political support to make the changes in Britain, but needed approval from the 15 other Commonwealth realms, including Jamaica, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and smaller nations in the Caribbean and the Pacific.
The British leader said there had been talk about changing the succession rules for some time, but organizing reform across so many countries was a complex issue.
The succession debate intensified with the wedding in April of Prince William, the second in line to the throne, and Kate Middleton.
“Put simply, if the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were to have a little girl, that girl would one day be our queen,” Cameron said, referring to the royal couple’s official titles.
He said the monarch would still have to be Protestant because he or she heads the Church of England.
“But it is simply wrong that they should be denied the chance to marry a Catholic if they wish to do so, after all they’re already quite free to marry someone of any other faith,” he added.
Roman Catholics, or anyone who weds a Catholic, were barred from ascending to the throne in the 1701 Act of Settlement, which specifically excludes “those who shall professe the popish religion or shall marry a papist.” The law also formalized the policy of male primogeniture, although the tradition dates back even further to feudal times and beyond.
Under the law, female heirs to the throne are passed over if younger male heirs are available. Queen Elizabeth II was crowned in 1953 only because she did not have any brothers.
There has been a reluctance to press the issue in the past, partly because of concern that tinkering with the rules may encourage republican movements in countries such as Australia.
However, the monarchy has enjoyed a surge in popularity in the wake of William and Kate’s marriage, with adoring crowds greeting the queen on her current tour of Australia.
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard said there was far less focus in her country on cutting ties with the monarchy than before a failed republic referendum in 1999.
“Ultimately, I think the Australian people will work their way through changes to our constitutional arrangements, but there is a not a great deal of focus on this in our current national discourse,” she said. “The queen has certainly been received with a great degree of affection on this visit.”
Gillard welcomed the proposed succession changes as “simple and very rational,” but noted they would alter forever the way the monarchy works.
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
SECURITY: The purpose for giving Hong Kong and Macau residents more lenient paths to permanent residency no longer applies due to China’s policies, a source said The government is considering removing an optional path to citizenship for residents from Hong Kong and Macau, and lengthening the terms for permanent residence eligibility, a source said yesterday. In a bid to prevent the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from infiltrating Taiwan through immigration from Hong Kong and Macau, the government could amend immigration laws for residents of the territories who currently receive preferential treatment, an official familiar with the matter speaking on condition of anonymity said. The move was part of “national security-related legislative reform,” they added. Under the amendments, arrivals from the Chinese territories would have to reside in Taiwan for
COORDINATION, ASSURANCE: Separately, representatives reintroduced a bill that asks the state department to review guidelines on how the US engages with Taiwan US senators on Tuesday introduced the Taiwan travel and tourism coordination act, which they said would bolster bilateral travel and cooperation. The bill, proposed by US senators Marsha Blackburn and Brian Schatz, seeks to establish “robust security screenings for those traveling to the US from Asia, open new markets for American industry, and strengthen the economic partnership between the US and Taiwan,” they said in a statement. “Travel and tourism play a crucial role in a nation’s economic security,” but Taiwan faces “pressure and coercion from the Chinese Communist Party [CCP]” in this sector, the statement said. As Taiwan is a “vital trading
RSS