Home Homosexuality & Trans Feminism Prince Charles Warns of “Unintended Consequences” to Succession Changes

Prince Charles Warns of “Unintended Consequences” to Succession Changes

18 January 2013

118

The Prince of Wales has raised concerns with senior Whitehall officials about the Succession to the Crown Bill, which he believes could let off a chain of “unintended consequences.”

In a private meeting last month with Richard Heaton, permanent secretary at the Cabinet Office, Prince Charles confided his fear that attempts to overturn the ancient laws governing the crown’s succession are being fast-tracked without adequate attention to the possible ramifications.

Details of the meeting were communicated to the Daily Mail last week by “a well-placed source,” who said the Prince was very worried what would happen if his future grandchild were to marry a Roman Catholic.

Currently the 1701 Act of Settlement prohibits the heir to the throne from marrying a Roman Catholic, but this is set to be scrapped in the reforms being introduced by the Coalition Government.

The anxiety voiced by the Prince of Wales echoes concerns raised by constitutional experts, who have pointed out that if the law were changed to allow a future monarch to marry a Roman Catholic, then the possibility exists that the future heir to the throne could be raised Catholic. If that were to happen, then there would either have to be an abdication crisis, or the law would need to be changed to allow Roman Catholics to succeed to the throne, reversing Henry VIII’s historic break with Rome. If the latter course prevailed, then it could lead to the bizarre situation of having a Roman Catholic as the supreme head of the Church of England.

Prince Charles was told that all such issues could be resolved through negotiations with the Vatican, a solution he reportedly found “unsatisfactory and unconvincing.”

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg dismissed the legitimacy of Prince’s concerns by declaring in the Commons: “I can give him complete reassurance that these proposals will not in any way alter the status of the established Church or the status of the monarch as head as head of the church. There is absolutely nothing in these proposals to alter the status of the church.”

The Prince of Wales also raised questions about the lack of detailed consultation over the Bill, which threatens to throw the entire aristocracy into turmoil. The prince said that while he accepts the abolition of male primogeniture in principle, he is very worried what could happen if the changes spilled over into other hereditary titles currently regulated by peerage law.

Meanwhile, the legislative framework for the succession changes are being hammered out in private, under the coordination of New Zealand Secretary of the Cabinet and Clerk of the Executive Council, Rebecca Kitteridge. The details of the process are being kept secret, as is the legal advice the Government is receiving.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg is in charge of getting the changes moved through the UK Parliament and he has seen fit to do so with procedures normally reserved for anti-terror laws. The process has been so fast that the Queen was not informed of the decision to legislate until very soon before the Bill was published, while Prince Charles was not consulted at all.

But are the concerns raised by Prince Charles legitimate? We think they are, and in a future post we will explain why.