Royal family marrying to Catholic ???

Question

Is it true & if so, why EXACTLY aren't Royals allowed to marry a Catholic ???

What specific religion is today's Britain's Royal family ???

Answer 1

With the Queen's permission, members of the Royal family can marry followers of any other faith, but they lose their place in the line of succession. The sovereign is head of the church of England so it is not allowed for this position to go to a non-C of E member any more than the Cardinals would elect a Protestant pope. If the Church is ever disestablished then the ban on non-Anglicans will be lifted.

Among the Queen's cousins, Prince Michael of Kent married a Catholic, the Duke of Kent's wife converted to Catholicism, and his heir Lord St Andrews married a Catholic. I think Lord Harewood might have married a Jewish woman. None of them are now eligible for the throne. King George IV, as Prince of Wales, secretly married a Catholic but it was declared invalid as he had not obtained the king's permission.

In recent years The Guardian newspaper has tried to wage a campaign against this law, and resolutions were moved in Scottish parliament calling for an end to this situtation. I expect it won't come to a head unless someone quite close to succession wishes to marry a Catholic.

Answer 2

Under UK law a member of the Royal Family needs permission from the Queen before they can marry. The person they marry has to be a member of the Church Of England - as all the main Royals are. When Prince Charles married Camilla last year he needed his mother's permission.

This is one of those laws which was passed 300 years ago when the UK was regularly at war with the major European powers (France & Spain). Those countries are Catholic and the Pope was considered an enemy of the British state. He regularly encouraged anyone and everyone to invade England in order to restore Catholicism as the state religion. At various points most of the English Kings and Queens have been excommunicated.

Clearly things are different these days, laws limiting the freedom of Royals to marry who they want have never been tested in Court but would probably be struck down because of various European treaties and the Human Rights Act. It hasn't been changed because there has been no need up till now. The reality is that if William was to give Kate the heave and decide to marry a Catholic the law would be changed before the wedding went ahead.

Answer 3

It was the case that the Royal Family could not marry Catholics in the same way as it used to be the case that you couldn't attend, or teach at, Oxbridge if you were a Catholic. The rift with the Catholic Church started with Henry VIII and the formation of the Church off England. Now pretty much anything goes, with Charlie advocating that there should be a defender of faiths as opposed to defender of the faith. The Royal Family has little loyalty to the Church of England as the politicians. Who knows what their religion is; nominally Christian. Marry a Catholic - of course.

Answer 4

It's a tradition going back to the time of the gunpowder plot and Guy Fawkes, when relationships in England between Catholic and Anglican christians were not as good as they are today, and politics was involved.

I personally think it's an outdated law that needs to be removed. The Royal Family should be allowed to marry whoever they like.

Answer 5

A member of the royal family can marry a Catholic, but they may not, themselves, become Catholic. If they do, they give up their claim to the throne. Several of the younger 'royals' have, indeed, married catholics and converted, but they were so far from the throne it wouldn't have made any difference what they did.
The royal family is Church of England. This dates back to Henry VIII, who, when the Pope refused him permission to divorce one wife and marry another, broke away from the Roman Catholic church and started his own church, with himself as the head. Everything else remained as it was -- it was simply a name change, as the rites and rituals of the Church of England (often called the High Church) are almost identical to those of Rome. With the very major exception that as the new head of the church, Henry set the rules, and these rules allowed him to set aside one wife and take another. Which he did several times.
It would be impossible for a Roman Catholic to be head of the Church of England, which is why royals are not allowed to be Catholic. And if catholics married in to the family (just as an example, if Diana had been Catholic when she married Charles) the catholics would be bound by the terms of THEIR religion, to raise their children to be catholic, which, in the case of William and Harry, would not be possible as they were heirs to the throne.

Answer 6

Church of England.
There is no law stopping them from marrying someone from whatever religion they happen to be. There are already members of the royal family married to catholics.

Answer 7

The royal family belong to the sect of christians called Protestants and have their own sub-sect known as the Church of England.
The monarch is always the head of this church so by an act of parliament in the 18th century it was decreed that the monarch or heir to the throne could not marry a catholic to preserve this state of affairs.
Queen Elizabeth II is the present head of the Church of England and Prince Charles will be the next one when he becomes king even though he is divorced and married to a divorced woman despite the remarriage of divorced people not been rcognised as valid by his own church.

Answer 8

The Royal Family is Church of England which is a lot like Catholic without the pope. It probably stems from Henry VIII spliting from the catholic church because of his many marriages and declaring himself head of the church. Seems like a rather silly custom to keep up at this point.

Answer 9

Already happened. Camilla is Catholic.

The Bristish royal family is Church of England.

No law stopping the marrage (already happened) just stopping her being queen

Answer 10

The reason is that the Queen or King is the head of the Church of England which is the religion of the royal family.