would I be not allowed to marry into the royal family?

Question

Okay, this may sound like a stupid question...
But I was wondering about this for a couple weeks now and it's bothering me.

I know royals aren't allowed to marry Catholics. That's set in stone.
I, personally, am Agnostic.
However, my family is Catholic.
Since I have a Catholic family and blood in me, then would I not be allowed to marry into the royal family?
When it says that royals aren't allowed to marry a Catholic, does that mean anyone with a Catholic background or a Catholic family?
Just wondering.

I don't think I will actually marry into the royal family!
I was just wondering if someone in my position would be able to or if by some weird reason I met someone from the royal family...

Answer 1

The rules are a) if you are a royal and become a Catholic, you lose your place in line to the throne; this happened to Edward Windsor, Lord Downpatrick eldest son of the Ealr of St Andrews. He became a Catholic and was thereby excluded from the sucession.

b) if you are a royal and marry a Catholic, you lose your place in line to the throne; this happened to George Windsor, Earl of St Andrews (father to Lord Downpatrick) who is the first son of the Duke of Kent, who himself is 23rd in line to the throne. The Earl would have been 24th in line but is excluded.

c) if you are a royal and are married and your husband or your wife decides to become a Catholic, you would not be affected. This happened to the Duke of Kent which wife, Katherine became a Catholic but unlike his son and grandson, the Duke remains in the line of sucession.

You are only considered Catholic if you are confirmed within the Catholic Church. If you have not been confirmed, you are officially a non-denominational Christian and you are not affected by the terms of the Act. However, if you are a Catholic and leave the Church to join another one, you cease to be a Catholic and are no longer within the terms.

Other than catholicism, if our marriage was not approved by the monarch before the weeding, it would be invalid. Your husband could inherit but you would not be the Queen.

The legality of both aspects is questionable. The religious bar is in breach of UK and EU law relating to freedom of religion. The "permission" clause excludes any decendents of British pricesses who marry into foreign monarchies - and most royals decend from monarchs of more than one kingdom and Charles, William, Harry, Andrew, Beatrice, Eugenie, Edward, Louise, Anne, Peter and Zara all decend from the Kings of Greece and Denmark (not to mention the sovereigns of Teck, Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Saxe-Altenburg, Hesse, Prussia, Russia and a number more) so it is likely that the act does not apply to them in any case or to any others in close proximity to the throne.

Finally, if your husband were excluded, and you have children but they were not Catholic and were not married to Catholics, they are still allowed to inherit. George of Hanover is married to a Catholic (Stephanie of Monaco) and is so excluded from the line of sucession to the British throne but their daughter is still in line. Similarly, Lady Marina-Charlotte Windsor, sister of Lord Downpatrick and daughter of Lord St Andrews (both excluded) still is included in the line of sucession.

Answer 2

A lot of people are wide of the mark.
Although the Act of Settlement states that anyone becoming a Catholic or marrying a Catholic will lose their right of succession to the Throne, this has never been tested in law - it could very well be overturned. Eventually, and it will probably be sooner than later, this odious law will be overturned anyway - it is the last bastion of state bigotry.
Incidentally, there are several members of the Royal Family who ARE Roman Catholics. The Duchess of Kent converted to Roman Catholicism and this has not affected her children's right to succeed to the Throne (well the one's remaining Anglican) a couple of her children have also become Roman Catholics. Also Historically, the First Duke of England, The Duke of Norfolk, the Duke responsible for the the Coronation of the Monarch (arranging it that is) and also for the Monarch's funeral, is and has been for the most part since Henry VIII's day, Roman Catholic.

Answer 3

You could marry into the royal family but you spouse would not be able to take the throne while you remained a Catholic. Many people come from Catholic families but leave the faith and the church. Just because your parents are catholic does not mean you have to be. As long as you renounced catholicism, your royal partner would be able to succeed to the throne.

It is likely that the religious restriction on royalty will be lifted in the not too distant future as discrimination on the grounds of religion is illegal in the UK and most other countries which have the Queen as their monarch. You cannot have the monarch breaking his/her own laws.

Answer 4

There are several Acts which apply, potentially, to this situation.

The general rule appears to be, though, that you could marry a member of the Royal Family, but he would give up his place in the succession and therefore couldn't become King.

Act of Settlement 1701 (12 & 13 Wm 3 c.2) set up the general criteria for succession to the throne. The Act states that

Since the passing of the Act, it has been used - for example, Prince Michael of Kent married a Catholic in 1978, when he was 15th in line to the throne, and lost his place as a result. It didn't stop the marriage, but it did affect his (distant) claim to the throne.

George Windsor, Earl of St Andrews is the eldest son of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, He married a Catholic in 1988, and lost his place in the succession. He would've been no. 23 if he hadn't done that. His son is a Catholic, having converted a few years ago, so has also lost his place.

You aren't in line to the throne yourself, so it doesn't affect you personally.

SOmeone stated that Prince Charles' wife, the Duchess of Cornwall, is Catholic. She isn't - her ex and her children are, but she's not.

Answer 5

It's not a matter of not being allowed to marry in the family - it's that the royal person would lose his/her place in the line of succession.

I don't know that the laws specifically define what a Catholic is - however, if you are not a practicing Catholic and were never confirmed, you'd probably be OK. Likewise, you'd probably be considered non-Catholic if you officially converted to the Church of England.

Answer 6

You would have to formally renounce the Catholic faith, and officially become Protestant ( Church of England, Scotland, or Wales). This is such a political hot potato, thanks to Henry VIII, that if you did not, any royal wanting to marry you would have to renounce his claim to the throne.
As you are agnostic, you would be only paying lip service to it. The current Royal Family make a big thing out of religion, and if you wanted to be accepted, you would have a lot of pretending to do. Could you do that?
Your family's religion is of no consequence to a royal marriage, although courtiers might make trouble.

Answer 7

According to the British royal marriage act, if any royal male heir who is in the order of succession marries a Catholic woman, would be removed and will not be able to claim the throne. He could still marry her, he just won't be in the line of succession to the British Throne.
The line of succession to the British Throne is an ordered list of the people in line to succeed to the throne of the United Kingdom. The succession is regulated by the Act of Settlement 1701, which limits it to the heirs of the Electress Sophia of Hanover, as determined by male-preference primogeniture, religion, and legitimate birth:

- A person is always immediately followed in the succession by his or her own legitimate descendants (his or her 'line'). Birth order and gender matter: older sons (and their lines) come before younger sons (and theirs); a person's sons (and their lines), irrespective of age, all come before his or her daughters (and their lines).

-Anyone who is Roman Catholic, becomes Roman Catholic, or marries a Roman Catholic is permanently excluded from the succession; this provision removing "papists" from the succession has never been tested.

-A person born to parents who are not married to each other at the time of birth is not included in the line of succession. The subsequent marriage of the parents does not alter this.

A great example of a royal prince who married a Roman Catholic wife was Prince Michael of Kent. He is a cousin of Queen Elizabeth II, and forfeited his place in the line of succession through marriage to a Roman Catholic.

Answer 8

I was going to ask why no Catholics, but I'm guessing it's because the King/Queen of Britain is also still the head of the Anglican Church?

Anyway, since you don't really mind anyway, being agnostic, you wouldn't force your beliefs upon your husband and I wouldn't know why in theory you couldn't.

doesn't seem likely to happen (unless you're Kate Middleton or Harry's girlfriend, whoever she is, in disguise), but hey, since when aren't we allowed to dream anymore? Good luck to you!

Jo

Answer 9

No!! If you look back at the history of the monarchy they were all once Catholics! Therefore, they all have Catholic 'blood' running through their veins. King Henry VIII was Catholic (probably the last of them) up and until he broke from the faith by divorcing Catherine of Aragon and marrying Anne Boleyn.

Answer 10

Practically, I'm neither catholic nor Protestant nor agnostic. So I don't know anything about the 'rule'. But base on my religion, we have to treat all of human being equally. Either the royalties or the common people. That is all my comment. bye.