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85-527: Following the Hanoverian Succession in 1714, the Tory government previously led by Robert Harley was ousted and the new King George I appointed a Whig-dominated ministry, commencing the fifty year Whig Oligarchy . This new government successfully resisted the 1715 Jacobite Rebellion which aimed to establish the exiled James on the throne. Growing tension between leading ministers in 1716

170-506: A denizen (unless born of English parents), can be a Privy Councillor or a member of either House of Parliament, or hold "any Office or Place of Trust, either Civill [ sic ] or Military, or to [ sic ] have any Grant of Lands, Tenements or Hereditaments from the Crown, to himself or to any other or others in Trust for him". Subsequent nationality laws (today primarily

255-584: A Canadian civic politician, took issue with the provisions that exclude Roman Catholics from the throne, and which make the monarch of Canada the Supreme Governor of the Church of England , requiring him or her to be an Anglican . This, he claimed, discriminated against non-Anglicans, including Catholics, who are the largest faith group in Canada. In 2002, O'Donohue launched a court action that argued

340-681: A Roman Catholic Canadian. (In fact, Lord St Andrews had already lost his place in the line of succession when he married the Roman Catholic Canadian Sylvana Palma Tomaselli in 1988. But St Andrews' place in the line of succession was significantly lower than Phillips'.) Criticism of the Act of Settlement due to the Phillips–Kelly marriage was muted when Autumn Kelly converted to Anglicanism shortly before her marriage, thus preserving her husband's place in

425-531: A Roman Catholic and a Canadian, discussion about the Act of Settlement was revived. Norman Spector called in The Globe and Mail for Prime Minister Stephen Harper to address the issue of the Act's bar on Catholics, saying Phillips' marriage to Kelly would be the first time the provisions of the Act would bear directly on Canada—Phillips would be barred from acceding to the Canadian throne because he married

510-555: A Roman Catholic crown would be the destruction of the Church of England because "it would contradict the essential character of that church." He continued: When Thomas Hobbes wrote that "the Papacy is no other than the ghost of the deceased Roman Empire sitting crowned upon the grave thereof", he was promulgating an enormously important truth. Authority in the Roman Church is the exertion of that imperium from which England in

595-590: A Roman Catholic monarch would be unable to be crowned by the Archbishop of Canterbury and notes that other European states have similar religious provisions for their monarchs: Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, whose constitutions compel their monarchs to be Lutherans ; the Netherlands, which has a constitution requiring its monarchs be members of the Protestant House of Orange ; and Belgium, which has

680-641: A constitution that provides for the succession to be through Roman Catholic houses. In December 2004, a private member's bill—the Succession to the Crown Bill —was introduced in the House of Lords. The government, headed by Tony Blair , blocked all attempts to revise the succession laws, claiming it would raise too many constitutional issues and it was unnecessary at the time. In the British general election

765-500: A few months after the Act received royal assent, and his Roman Catholic children, Prince James ( The Old Pretender ) and the Princess Royal , the Act also excluded the descendants of Princess Henrietta , the youngest sister of James II. Henrietta's daughter was Anne , Queen of Sardinia, a Roman Catholic, from whom descend all Jacobite pretenders after 1807. With the legitimate descendants of Charles I either childless (in

850-569: A foreman to do so. Despite the controversy Harley was able to subsequently pass the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. However, the narrow Tory majority in the Lords disappeared in 1714 following the Hanoverian Succession when the Tory government was replaced by George I . Harley's alleged abuse of royal power and the violation of the constitution were part of the articles of impeachment against him, when he

935-536: A granddaughter of James VI and I and a niece of King Charles I  – and her descendants, but it excluded "for ever" "all and every Person and Persons who ... is are or shall be reconciled to or shall hold Communion with the See or Church of Rome or shall profess the Popish Religion or shall marry a Papist". Thus, those who were Roman Catholics, and those who married Roman Catholics, were barred from ascending

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1020-513: A misunderstanding with the Prince and believed he had been challenged to a duel by him. The King responded angrily and in consequence Prince George and his wife Caroline of Ansbach were banished from St James's Palace , forced to leave behind their three daughters. They took up residence at Leicester House , spending their summers at Richmond Lodge near the River Thames , and established

1105-614: A motion in 1999 calling for the complete removal of any discrimination linked to the monarchy and the repeal of the Act of Settlement. The following year, The Guardian challenged the succession law in court, claiming that it violated the European Convention on Human Rights , which provides, The enjoyment of the rights and freedoms set forth in this Convention shall be secured without discrimination on any ground such as sex, race, colour, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, association with

1190-520: A national minority, property, birth, or other status. As the Convention nowhere lists the right to succeed to the Crown as a human right, the challenge was rejected. Adrian Hilton , writing in The Spectator in 2003, defended the Act of Settlement as not "irrational prejudice or blind bigotry", but claimed that it was passed because "the nation had learnt that when a Roman Catholic monarch

1275-414: A pension from the Crown, was to be a Member of Parliament. This provision was inserted to avoid unwelcome royal influence over the House of Commons. It remains in force, but with several exceptions; ministers of the Crown were exempted early on before Anne's death in order to continue some degree of royal patronage, but had to stand for a by-election to re-enter the House upon such appointment until 1926. As

1360-566: A rival court to George. This attracted politicians hostile to the Stanhope government, particularly the opposition Whigs. Both the Jacobites and foreign powers opposed to Britain tried to take advantage of the royal rift. Walpole and his followers allied with the Tories, to whom they had recently been bitterly opposed, to oppose new proposals by Stanhope's government. A significant victory for

1445-805: A side effect, this provision means that members of the Commons seeking to resign from parliament can get around the prohibition on resignation by obtaining a sinecure in the control of the Crown; while several offices have historically been used for this purpose, two are currently in use: appointments generally alternate between the stewardships of the Chiltern Hundreds and of the Manor of Northstead . Seventh, judges' commissions are valid quamdiu se bene gesserint (during good behaviour) and if they do not behave themselves, they can be removed only by both Houses of Parliament (or in other Commonwealth realms

1530-537: Is a complex process, since the act governs the shared succession of all the Commonwealth realms . The Statute of Westminster 1931 acknowledges by established convention that any changes to the rules of succession may be made only with the agreement of all of the states involved, with concurrent amendments to be made by each state's parliament or parliaments. Further, as the current monarch's eldest child and, in turn, his eldest child, are Anglican males, any change to

1615-538: Is an act of the Parliament of England that settled the succession to the English and Irish crowns to only Protestants , which passed in 1701. More specifically, anyone who became a Roman Catholic, or who married one, became disqualified to inherit the throne. This had the effect of deposing the remaining descendants of Charles I , other than his Protestant granddaughter Anne , as the next Protestant in line to

1700-617: Is now Lower Saxony (Germany), then part of the Holy Roman Empire . This provision has been dormant since Queen Victoria ascended the throne, because she did not inherit Hanover under the Salic Laws of the German-speaking states. Third, no monarch may leave "the dominions of England , Scotland , or Ireland ", without the consent of Parliament. This provision was repealed in 1716, at the request of George I who

1785-450: Is upon the throne, religious and civil liberty is lost." He points to the Pope's claiming universal jurisdiction, and Hilton argues that "it would be intolerable to have, as the sovereign of a Protestant and free country, one who owes any allegiance to the head of any other state" and contends that, if such situation came about, "we will have undone centuries of common law." He said that because

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1870-457: The Act of Union 1707 . This success was in marked contrast to the four attempts at political union between 1606 and 1689, which all failed owing to a lack of political will in both kingdoms. By virtue of Article II of the Treaty of Union , which defined the succession to the throne of Great Britain, the Act of Settlement became part of Scots law as well. In addition to excluding James II , who died

1955-521: The Bill of Rights 1689 , the Act of Settlement remains today one of the main constitutional laws governing the succession not only to the throne of the United Kingdom , but to those of the other Commonwealth realms , whether by assumption or by patriation . The Act of Settlement cannot be altered in any realm except by that realm's own parliament and, by convention , only with the consent of all

2040-562: The British Nationality Act 1981 ) made naturalised citizens the equal of those native born, and excluded Commonwealth citizens from the definition of foreigners, and citizens of the Irish Republic from the definition of aliens, but otherwise this provision still applies. It has however been disapplied in particular cases by a number of other statutes. Sixth, no person who has an office under the monarch, or receives

2125-557: The Dutchy of Bremen and smaller Duchy of Verden . The outcome of this was a British fleet under John Norris being sent to the Baltic to support Russia against Sweden . This was much criticised for subordinating British interests to those of Hanover, something which had specifically been ruled out in the Act of Settlement . The developing hostility also involved Walpole's brother-in-law and close political ally Lord Townshend . Townshend

2210-468: The Earl of Scarsdale and three others. While many shared their opposition to a "foreign" king, the general feeling was summed up as "better a German prince than a French one". Monarch : Charles III For different reasons, various constitutionalists have praised the Act of Settlement: Henry Hallam called the Act "the seal of our constitutional laws" and David Lindsay Keir placed its importance above

2295-461: The Earl of Sunderland , Stanhope took over full control of the government as First Minister. To boost the ranks of their ministry he briefly appointed the playwright Joseph Addison as Secretary of State. The disharmony was increased when Prince George and his father, whose relationship had often been strained, had a dramatic falling out. This occurred when the Duke of Newcastle , a young minister, had

2380-594: The Peerage Bill was defeated. This was a proposal to perpetually limit the membership of the Lords to existing members and their heirs, drawn up partly in response to Harley's controversial creation of a dozen new peers in 1711 to create a Tory majority in the Whig-dominated House of Lords. As Stanhope had recently been made an Earl by the King, Walpole mockingly suggested he was "now desirous to shut

2465-461: The 16th century finally and decisively declared its national independence as the alter imperium , the "other empire", of which Henry VIII declared "This realm of England is an empire" ... It would signal the beginning of the end of the British monarchy. It would portend the eventual surrender of everything that has made us, and keeps us still, a nation. The Scottish Parliament unanimously passed

2550-589: The Act catalysing the Union of England and Scotland . However, the Parliament of Scotland was more reluctant to abandon the House of Stuart, members of which had been Scottish monarchs long before they became English. Moreover, the Act also placed limits on both the role of foreigners in the British government and the power of the monarch with respect to the Parliament of England, though some of those provisions have been altered by subsequent legislation. Along with

2635-521: The Act of Settlement violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms , but, the case was dismissed by the court. It found that, as the Act of Settlement is part of the Canadian constitution, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, as another part of the same constitution, does not have supremacy over it. Also, the court noted that, while Canada has the power to amend the line of succession to

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2720-461: The Act of Settlement was received into the laws of all the countries and territories over which the British monarch reigned. It remains part of the laws of the 15 Commonwealth realms and the relevant jurisdictions within those realms. In accordance with established convention, the Statute of Westminster 1931 and later laws, the Act of Settlement (along with the other laws governing the succession of

2805-568: The Act of Settlement, and, in response, passed the Act of Security in 1704, through which Scotland reserved the right to choose its own successor to Queen Anne . Stemming from this, the Parliament of England decided that, to ensure the stability and future prosperity of Great Britain, full union of the two parliaments and nations was essential before Anne's death. It used a combination of exclusionary legislation (the Alien Act 1705 ), politics, and bribery to achieve this within three years under

2890-611: The Bill of Rights of 1689. Naamani Tarkow wrote: "If one is to make sweeping statements, one may say that, save Magna Carta (more truly, its implications), the Act of Settlement is probably the most significant statute in English history". The Act of Settlement was, in many ways, the major cause of the union of Scotland with England and Wales to form the Kingdom of Great Britain . The Parliament of Scotland had not been consulted about

2975-588: The British Tory government of Robert Harley which was struggling to gain a majority in the Whig -dominated House of Lords . This came at a time when the government were negotiating peace terms to end the ongoing War of the Spanish Succession , which were unlikely to pass the Lords where opposition Whigs and some Tories had joined to block them under the slogan " No Peace Without Spain ". Two of

3060-582: The British throne". Ashdown claimed the Prince said: "I really can't think why we can't have Catholics on the throne". In 1998, during debate on a Succession to the Crown Bill , Junior Home Office Minister Lord Williams of Mostyn informed the House of Lords that the Queen had "no objection to the Government's view that in determining the line of succession to the throne, daughters and sons should be treated in

3145-522: The Canadian throne, the Statute of Westminster stipulates that the agreement of the governments of the fifteen other Commonwealth realms that share the Crown would first have to be sought if Canada wished to continue its relationship with these countries. An appeal of the decision was dismissed on 16 March 2005. Some commentators state that, as a result of this, any single provincial legislature could hinder any attempts to change this Act, and by extension, to

3230-494: The Commons in Parliament". This meant in effect that no pardon by the monarch was to save someone from being impeached by the House of Commons. The Tory administration that replaced the Whig Junto in 1699 took responsibility for steering the Act through Parliament. As a result, it passed with little opposition, although five peers voted against it in the House of Lords, including the Earl of Huntingdon , his brother-in-law

3315-517: The Commonwealth realms) may only be changed with the agreement of all the realms (and, in some federal realms, the constituent members of those federations). The Succession to the Crown Act 2013 changed many provisions of this Act. Challenges have been made against the Act of Settlement, especially its provisions regarding Roman Catholics and preference for males . However, changing the act

3400-621: The Electress Sophia who had been ineligible to succeed on this ground is George Windsor, Earl of St Andrews , the elder son of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent , who married the Roman Catholic Sylvana Palma Tomaselli in 1988. His son, Lord Downpatrick , converted to Roman Catholicism in 2003 and is the most senior descendant of Sophia to be barred as a result of his religion. In 2008 his daughter, Lady Marina Windsor , also converted to Catholicism and

3485-735: The Forces and Lord President of the Council . Stanhope continued as first minister. Despite assurances given to her by Walpole, the Princess and her husband were not given full access to their children. Although she remained politically aligned with him, the Princess considered that she had been exploited by Walpole during the reconciliation. During the scandal over the collapse of the South Sea Bubble , many prominent Whigs were forced to leave office. Although Walpole had not been involved in

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3570-520: The Protestant descendants of William III by a possible later marriage should he outlive Mary. During the debate, the House of Lords had attempted to append Sophia and her descendants to the line of succession, but the amendment failed in the Commons. Mary II died childless in 1694, after which William III did not remarry. In 1700, Prince William, Duke of Gloucester , who was Anne's only child to survive infancy, died of what may have been smallpox at

3655-592: The Queen shall extend to Her Majesty's heirs and successors in the sovereignty of the United Kingdom." Anne Twomey reviews three possible interpretations of the clause. However, Twomey expresses confidence that, if the High Court of Australia were to be faced with the problems of covering clause 2, it would find some way to conclude that, with regard to Australia, the clause is subject solely to Australian law. Canadian scholar Richard Toporoski theorised in 1998 that "if, let us say, an alteration were to be made in

3740-547: The Roman Catholic Church does not recognise the Church of England as an apostolic church , a Roman Catholic monarch who abided by their faith's doctrine would be obliged to view Anglican and Church of Scotland archbishops, bishops, and clergy as part of the laity and therefore "lacking the ordained authority to preach and celebrate the sacraments." (Hilton noted that the Church of Scotland's Presbyterian polity does not include bishops or archbishops.) Hilton said

3825-564: The Royal Family (that is, with the style of Royal Highness ) has converted to Roman Catholicism since the passage of the Act: the Duchess of Kent , wife of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent , who converted on 14 January 1994, but her husband did not lose his place in the succession because she was an Anglican at the time of their marriage. As well as being part of the law of the United Kingdom,

3910-539: The United Kingdom to the Act of Settlement 1701, providing for the succession of the Crown... [i]t is my opinion that the domestic constitutional law of Australia or Papua New Guinea, for example, would provide for the succession in those countries of the same person who became Sovereign of the United Kingdom." In practice, when legislating for the Perth Agreement (see below), the Australian governments took

3995-490: The act's passing the most senior living member of the royal family to have married a Roman Catholic, and thereby to have been removed from the line of succession, is Prince Michael of Kent , who married Baroness Marie-Christine von Reibnitz in 1978; he was fifteenth in the line of succession at the time. He was restored to the line of succession in 2015 when the Succession to the Crown Act 2013 came into force, and became 34th in line. The next most senior living descendant of

4080-428: The age of 11. Thus, Anne was left as the only person in line to the throne. The Bill of Rights excluded Catholics from the throne, which ruled out James II and his children (as well as their descendants) sired after he converted to Catholicism in 1668. However, it did not provide for the further succession after Anne. Parliament thus saw the need to settle the succession on Sophia and her descendants, and thereby guarantee

4165-492: The approach of the states requesting, and referring power to, the federal government to enact the legislation on behalf of the states (under paragraph 51(xxxviii) of the Australian Constitution) and the Commonwealth of Australia. [REDACTED] Canada portal In Canada, where the Act of Settlement ( French : Acte d'établissement ) is now a part of Canadian constitutional law , Tony O'Donohue ,

4250-416: The case of his two grand-daughters the late Queen Mary II and her successor Queen Anne ) or Roman Catholic, Parliament's choice was limited to Sophia of Hanover, the Protestant daughter of the late Elizabeth of Bohemia , the only other child of King James I to have survived childhood. Elizabeth had borne nine children who reached adulthood, of whom Sophia was the youngest daughter. However in 1701 Sophia

4335-536: The continuity of the Crown in the Protestant line. With religion and lineage initially decided, the ascendancy of William of Orange in 1689 would also bring his partiality to his Dutch favourites that followed. By 1701, anti-Dutch sentiment was widespread in England and action was considered necessary. The Act of Settlement provided that the throne would pass to the Electress Sophia of Hanover  –

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4420-690: The door after him". Although in 1719 the Duke of Newcastle had suggested that Walpole was so close to the Tories, that at the next election the Whig government would have little trouble in portraying them as part of a single party with the Jacobites by 1720 the Whig rivals began to move towards each other again. A formal reconciliation was agreed between the King and his son. Both Walpole and Townshend returned to office in June 1720, becoming respectively Paymaster of

4505-583: The following year , Michael Howard promised to work towards having the prohibition removed if the Conservative Party gained a majority of seats in the House of Commons, but the election was won by Blair's Labour Party . Four years later, plans drawn up by Chris Bryant were revealed that would end the exclusion of Catholics from the throne and end the doctrine of male-preference primogeniture in favour of absolute primogeniture, which governs succession solely on birth order and not on sex. The issue

4590-485: The husband of Queen Anne 's favourite Abigail Hill , a cousin and ally of Harley. While Bruce's letters patent were dated 31 December 1711, the other creations all took place on the subsequent day 1 January 1712. When Parliament resumed on 2 January they took their seats. Because their numbers resembled that of a jury , the Whig Lord Wharton mockingly asked if they were going to speak individually or elect

4675-409: The idea and it was reported that the government of New Zealand did, as well. The Monarchist League of Canada said at the time to the media that it "supports amending the Act of Settlement in order to modernize the succession rules." Later the same year, the Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Nick Clegg , announced that the government was considering a change in the law. At approximately

4760-462: The inability of William and Mary, as well as of Mary's Protestant sister (the future Queen Anne), to produce any surviving children, and by the perceived threat posed by the pretensions to the throne by remaining Roman Catholic members of the House of Stuart . The act played a key role in the formation of the Kingdom of Great Britain as, though England and Scotland had shared a monarch since 1603, they had remained separately governed countries, with

4845-412: The independence of the Church of England from Roman Catholicism under the English monarch. One of the principal factors which contributed to the Glorious Revolution was the perceived assaults made on the Church of England by King James II , a Roman Catholic, who was deposed in favour of his Protestant daughter Mary II and her husband William III . The need for this Act of Settlement was prompted by

4930-422: The joint monarchy of William III and Mary II. Second, if a person not native to England comes to the throne, England will not wage war for "any dominions or territories which do not belong to the Crown of England, without the consent of Parliament". This would become relevant when a member of the House of Hanover ascended the British throne, as he would retain the territories of the Electorate of Hanover in what

5015-423: The leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England, pointed out that Prince William (later the Duke of Cambridge) "can marry by law a Hindu , a Buddhist , anyone, but not a Roman Catholic." Opponents of repeal, such as Enoch Powell and Adrian Hilton , believe that it would lead to the disestablishment of the Church of England as the state religion if a Roman Catholic were to come to the throne. They also note that

5100-410: The line of succession for the shared crown of all 16 Commonwealth realms. Others contend that that is not the case, and changes to the succession instituted by an Act of the Parliament of Canada "[in accord] with the convention of symmetry that preserves the personal unity of the British and Dominion Crowns". With the announcement in 2007 of the engagement of Peter Phillips to Autumn Kelly ,

5185-472: The line of succession to the British throne from male-preference to absolute cognatic . Vaz sought support for his project from the Canadian Cabinet and Prime Minister Stephen Harper , but the Office of the Prime Minister of Canada responded that the issue was "not a priority for the government or for Canadians without further elaboration on the merits or drawbacks of the proposed reforms". Stephenson King , Prime Minister of Saint Lucia , said he supported

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5270-401: The line of succession. From time to time there has been debate over repealing the clause that prevents Roman Catholics, or those who marry one, from ascending to the British throne. Proponents of repeal argue that the clause is a bigoted anachronism; Cardinal Winning , who was leader of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland , called the act an "insult" to Catholics. Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor ,

5355-454: The management of the bubble, he defended those who had. Two months after Stanhope died while himself defending the government's conduct in the House of Lords, Walpole was appointed to replace him. Led by Walpole at the 1722 general election the Whigs won a decisive victory. His premiership lasted for over twenty years, firmly establishing the Whig Party's ascendancy. Walpole was subsequently accused of hypocrisy for attacking in opposition many of

5440-399: The men, Lord Bruce and Lord Compton , were heirs to existing earldoms and were advanced to the house in their own right using their father's baronies . Others included Harley's son-in-law George Hay as well as George Granville , Thomas Mansel , Thomas Trevor , Thomas Foley all of whom were close political allies of the First Minister. Most controversial was that of Samuel Masham ,

5525-405: The monarch must swear to defend the faith and be a member of the Anglican Communion , but that a Roman Catholic monarch would, like all Roman Catholics, owe allegiance to the Pope. This would, according to opponents of repeal, amount to a loss of sovereignty for the Anglican Church. When in December 1978 there was media speculation that Prince Charles might marry a Roman Catholic, Powell defended

5610-437: The one House of Parliament, depending on the legislature's structure). This provision was the result of various monarchs influencing judges' decisions, and its purpose was to assure judicial independence . This patent was used prior to 1701 but did not prevent Charles I from removing Sir John Walter as Chief Baron of the Exchequer . Eighth, that "no Pardon under the Great Seal of England be pleadable to an Impeachment by

5695-427: The opposition came with the government failure to impeach Harley , now Lord Oxford, for his role in the Peace of Utrecht . After two years imprisonment in the Tower of London , he was released in July 1717. Walpole strongly attacked funding the new war with Spain , fought in alliance with France. He joined with Tories to support reductions in military spending. A particularly significant victory occurred in 1719 when

5780-402: The other realms, as it touches on the succession to the shared crown . On 26 March 2015, following the Perth Agreement , legislation amending the Act came into effect across the Commonwealth realms that removed the disqualification arising from marriage to a Roman Catholic and instituted absolute primogeniture . Following the Glorious Revolution , the line of succession to the English throne

5865-469: The provision that excludes Roman Catholics from ascending the throne, stating his objection was not rooted in religious bigotry but in political considerations. He said a Roman Catholic monarch would mean the acceptance of a source of authority external to the realm and "in the literal sense, foreign to the Crown-in-Parliament ... Between Roman Catholicism and royal supremacy there is, as Saint Thomas More concluded, no reconciliation." Powell concluded that

5950-431: The restriction on successors being or marrying Roman Catholics; however, potential Roman Catholic successors would be required to convert to Anglicanism prior to acceding to the throne. In reaction to the letter and media coverage, Harper stated that, this time, he was "supportive" of what he saw as "reasonable modernizations". Harley%27s Dozen Harley's Dozen were twelve new peerages created in December 1711 by

6035-455: The royal succession remain in force. The legal process required at the federal level remains, theoretically, unclear. The Australian constitution , as was noted during the crisis of 1936, contains no power for the federal parliament to legislate with respect to the monarchy. Everything thus turns upon the status and meaning of clause 2 in the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900, which provides: "The provisions of this Act referring to

6120-617: The same policies that he later advocated in government. In the 1730s, a fresh group of Whigs split off to form the Patriot Whigs and established a working alliance with the Tories. In 1742 their combined strength was sufficient to bring down the Walpole government. However, Whig dominance continued under Henry Pelham , a long-standing minister under Walpole, and his successor the Duke of Newcastle . Hanoverian Succession The Act of Settlement ( 12 & 13 Will. 3 . c. 2)

6205-468: The same time, it was reported that British Prime Minister David Cameron had written to each of the prime ministers of the other fifteen Commonwealth realms, asking for their support in changing the succession to absolute primogeniture and notifying them he would raise his proposals at that year's Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Perth , Australia. Cameron reportedly also proposed removing

6290-569: The same way." In October 2011 the Australian federal government was reported to have reached an agreement with all of the states on potential changes to their laws in the wake of amendments to the Act of Settlement. The practice of the Australian states—for example, New South Wales and Victoria —has been, when legislating to repeal some imperial statutes so far as they still applied in Australia, to provide that imperial statutes concerning

6375-573: The succession laws would have no immediate implications. Consequently, there was little public concern with the issues and debate had been confined largely to academic circles until the November 2010 announcement that Prince William was to marry . This raised the question of what would happen if he were to produce first a daughter and then a son. The Times reported on 6 November 1995 that Prince Charles had said on that day to Tony Blair and Paddy Ashdown that "Catholics should be able to ascend to

6460-532: The throne was Sophia of Hanover . Born into the House of Wittelsbach , she was a granddaughter of James VI and I from his most junior surviving line, with the crowns descending only to her non- Catholic heirs. Sophia died less than two months before Queen Anne, and Sophia's son succeeded to the throne as King George I , starting the Hanoverian dynasty in Britain. The Act of Supremacy 1558 had confirmed

6545-600: The throne. The act contained eight additional provisions that were to only come into effect upon the death of both William and Anne: Firstly, the monarch "shall join in communion with the Church of England ". This was intended to ensure the exclusion of a Roman Catholic monarch. Along with James II's perceived despotism, his religion was the main cause of the Glorious Revolution, and of the previous linked religious and succession problems which had been resolved by

6630-555: Was also the Elector of Hanover and Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg within the Holy Roman Empire ; because of this, and also for personal reasons, he wished to visit Hanover from time to time. Fourth, all government matters within the jurisdiction of the Privy Council were to be transacted there, and all council resolutions were to be signed by those who advised and consented to them. This was because Parliament wanted to know who

6715-584: Was deciding policies, as sometimes councillors' signatures normally attached to resolutions were absent. This provision was repealed early in Queen Anne's reign, as many councillors ceased to offer advice and some stopped attending meetings altogether. Fifth, no foreigner ("no Person born out of the Kingdoms of England Scotland or Ireland or the Dominions thereunto belonging"), even if naturalised or made

6800-576: Was governed by the Bill of Rights 1689 , which declared that the flight of James II from England to France during the revolution amounted to an abdication of the throne and that James's daughter Mary II and her husband/cousin, William III (William of Orange, who was also James's nephew), were James's successors. The Bill of Rights also provided that the line of succession would go through Mary's Protestant descendants by William and any possible future husband should she outlive him, then through Mary's sister Anne and her Protestant descendants, and then to

6885-670: Was increased during George's visit to his native Electorate of Hanover that summer. He was accompanied by his Secretary of State James Stanhope. While on the Continent, Stanhope played a major role in negotiating the Anglo-French Alliance reversing Britain's historic opposition to the French Crown . Stanhope also supported George over the Great Northern War , in which Hanover was trying to annexe both

6970-463: Was raised again in January 2009, when a private member's bill to amend the Act of Succession was introduced in parliament. In early 2011 Keith Vaz , a Labour Member of Parliament, introduced to the House of Commons at Westminster a private member's bill which proposed that the Act of Settlement be amended to remove the provisions relating to Roman Catholicism and change the primogeniture governing

7055-525: Was removed from his role supervising Britain's foreign policy, but was transferred to be Lord Lieutenant of Ireland to soften the blow. However, in April 1717 Townshend was dismissed from the government after voting against it in the Lords over its anti-Swedish policy. Walpole, as Chancellor of the Exchequer , and his supporters promptly resigned from the government and the split became formal. With his ally,

7140-603: Was removed from the line of succession. More recently, Peter Phillips , the son of Anne, Princess Royal , and eleventh in line to the throne, married Autumn Kelly ; Kelly had been brought up as a Roman Catholic, but she converted to Anglicanism prior to the wedding. Had she not done so, Phillips would have forfeited his place in the succession upon their marriage, only to have it restored in 2015. Excluding those princesses who have married into Roman Catholic royal families, such as Marie of Edinburgh , Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg and Princess Beatrice of Edinburgh , one member of

7225-482: Was the senior Protestant one, therefore with a legitimate claim to the English throne; Parliament passed over her Roman Catholic siblings, namely her sister Louise Hollandine of the Palatinate , and their descendants, who included Elizabeth Charlotte, Duchess of Orléans ; Louis Otto, Prince of Salm , and his aunts; Anne Henriette, Princess of Condé , and Benedicta Henrietta, Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg . Since

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