Does Prince William have any say in who he marries?

Question

If William, whilst on his travells met and fell in love with say a lady of african or asian descen,t would the queen or government discourage him from making her his wife.The reason i ask this is,there has always been particular attention paid to our royalty;s bloodlines. what im asking is this do you believe if he made that choice our country would find it acceptable

It may be 2007 but nothing has changed in our royal family. i believe there is a great deal of naiveity amongst our citizens as to how the house of Windsor actually operates

Answer 1

He can't marry anyone he likes. That why they have the "Royal Marriage Act" 1772 requiring the consent of the Sovereign before a member of the Royal Family can marry. That means he has to ask his grandmother the Queen. If he went against the Queen wishes he would have to renounce his title and claim to the throne.

Answer 2

The only problem with William marrying an African or Asian gilr is if she was not Anglican or not willing to convert. As the future Head of the Church of England he needs to be married to an Anglican. Prince Philip had to convert from Greek Orthodox before he married the then Princess Elizabeth (as she was Heiress-presumptive and unlikely to be usurped by a younger brother). The Queen does no longer have to approve since he turned 25.

Although only Catholics are mentioned specifically in the Act of Succesion, William would need to marry an Anglican (converted or otherwise).

William's cousin, Peter Philips, has just got engaged to a young lady who's Roman Catholic, if she does not convert he will forfeit his place in the line of Succesion (he's currently 10th).

Although she had the courtesy title "Lady", Princess Diana was technically a commoner, and there is no problem with William marrying a commoner, after all Kate Middleton (who William could or can marry) is a commoner with no title or Royal background, her father is a self-made millionaire.

Answer 3

A similar question was asked some time ago.

William has free will. He can't, if he wishes to become king, marry a Roman Catholic. Technically, he, like all those with an HRH must get The Queen's consent to marry.

As for marrying someone of a different ethnic background, it is not out of the question. Dynastic considerations are not the same as racist views. William has already met someone. As I wrote previously, the woman William or Harry marries will come from a broader social circle than any of te previous members of the Royal Family because the boys have gone to different schools and had more contact with non-Royal and non-aristocratic families. People marry people they know and like. Royals and aristocrats tend to marry each other simply because they don't necessarily meet people from other backgrounds.

And when they do meet people from other backgrounds, they have to be careful that that person loves them for them and not the wealth, titles and privilege.

Answer 4

I agree with Brian and Fesi.. The Queen, on advice from her government, has the final say so. If William wanted to marry someone and the Queen or his father as King refused permission, William would then be able to inform parliament of his intention to marry. If after 1 year there was no objection from the members (and I believe also from the dominions as well, but not 100% sure), William would be allowed to marry.

>>> edit<<< sorry, it's Feis, not Fesi

Answer 5

Yes, he surely does. He could marry whom ever he may choose provided that she is not a Roman Catholic. He is forbidden to marry a Roman Catholic lady unless he wants to abolish his rights to the english throne. A great example of this was Prince Micheal of Kent (Queen Elizabeth I's cousin) who married not only a divorced woman but also a Roman Catholic. He was allowed to her marry her but he was removed from the royal line of succession to the english throne.
As for Prince William, if he did fall in love with a lady from another ethnicity background, the Queen may want to discourage him but Prince William does have the final say ( since he has turned 25, the age where he could make his own marriage decisions).
Throughout the english history, royal marriages were only arranaged between aristocrat families, and it had only been recently that commoners were allowed to marry into the royal family.
So far, the only european Prince who married a lady from another ethnicity background was HRH Prince Joachim of Denmark. He is the second son of HM Queen Margrethe II of Denmark. Prince Joachim is fourth in line to the Danish throne, following his older brother and his two children.
He married Alexandra Christina Manley, now Alexandra Christina, Countess of Frederiksborg a Hong Kong-born former sales and marketing deputy chief executive of Chinese, British, Polish and Austrian ancestry On 18 November 1995. They have two sons, His Highness Prince Nikolai, born on 28 August 1999 and His Highness Prince Felix, born on 22 July 2002. On 16 September 2004 the couple announced their separation, and divorced on 8 April 2005.

Answer 6

I don't think that they can marry outside the Protestand religion without giving up their claim to the throne. Up until the Queen's marriage to Prince Philip they usually married European royals or members of the aristocracy. With the arrival of Sophie Rhys Jones, Kate Middleton and Chelsy Davey that seems to now be changing. Interesting question Saoirse.

Answer 7

Yes and no, it still says in the Act of Settlement he can't marry a Roman Catholic and it has to be approved by the reigning monarch and parliment. There's no law saying he has to marry royalty or an aristocrat but like most people the chances of him marrying into his class are bigger than him marrying someone of a lower class.

Answer 8

I think he does have somewhat of a say, but you can believe that the women he associates with are considered by the powers that be to be 'acceptable' candidates for his wife. I don't imagine they would let him just marry any old girl off the street, although I think the public at large would prefer that if he really was in love, but let's be realistic and realize that he's not going to have the chance to fall for someone like that.

Answer 9

Of course he does. He cannot marry a Roman Catholic if he wants to retain his place in the succession, that's all. I don't believe that in this day and age an African or Asian partner would be a problem. Royalty have been marrying commoners for at least a century.

Answer 10

Kate Middleton is his choice, is she not? And he probably would be discouraged from marrying an African or Asian (no offense to anyone), just because that probably wouldn't be thier idea of an English princess, or queen. They have different, colours, views, etc. What do you think happened to his mother?