References
1 Andy Bloxham, ‘Centuries-old Rule of Succession in British Royal Family Scrapped by Commonwealth,’ The Telegraph, 28th October 2011.
2 Hardinge Stanley Giffard Halsbury (Earl of) and Baron Quintin Hogg Hailsham of St. Marylebone, Halsbury’s laws of England (Butterworths, 1996), Vol. 8 (2), para 34.
3 Martin Beckford, ‘Succession Law Change Would Have Made Kaiser Wilhelm King of England,’ The Telegraph, 27th March 2009; ‘British Royal Family History FAQ,’ British Royals, n.d., http://www.britroyals.com/faqs.htm.
4 ‘Should the Heir to the Throne Be the First-born Regardless of Gender?,’ This Is Leicestershire, 17th January 2011.
5 ‘Royal Succession Reform Is Being Discussed, Clegg Says’, April 16, 2011, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13103587.
6 ‘David Cameron Proposes Changes to Royal Succession,’ BBC News, October 12, 2011, http://tinyurl.com/5rh3mol.
7 Tim Shimpan and Damien Gayle, ‘If Wills and Kate Have a Girl First, She’ll Be Queen! Commonwealth Agrees Historic Change to Give Sex Equality in Royal Succession,’ Daily Mail, October 29, 2011, http://tinyurl.com/3shurmw.
8 Charles Moore, ‘Hark What Discord Follows When You Meddle with the Monarchy,’ The Telegraph, December 16, 2011, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/theroyalfamily/8961368/ Hark-what-discord-follows-when-you-meddle-with-the-monarchy.html
9 William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England: A Facsimile of the First Edition of 1765-1769, Vol. 1, 1st ed. (University Of Chicago Press, 1979), 63-64.
10 Bernard Bailyn, The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution, Enlarged ed. (Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1992), 68.
11 Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, 70.
12 Ibid., 68.
13 Vernon Bogdanor, The Monarchy and the Constitution (Clarendon Press, 1995), 42.
14 ‘By the 10th century, English kings were generally succeeded by their eldest son or nearest male relative … ‘ Geoffrey Hindley, The Guinness Book of British Royalty (Enfield Middlesex; New York, USA: Guinness Publications, 1989), 51.
15 Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, 186.
16 ‘Girls Equal in British Throne Succession,’ BBC News, October 28, 2011, http://tinyurl.com/6jl59ap.
17 ‘Overturning Centuries of Royal Rules,’ BBC News, October 28, 2011, http://tinyurl.com/3grqot2.
18 Nick Clegg, cited at ‘British laws of succession under review,’ Royal Insight, http://tinyurl.com/3hjmes.
19 Keith Vaz, cited in Martin, ‘Will we see a female heir? 15-nation talks on Clegg royal succession reform | Mail Online.’
20 Keith Vaz, ‘House of Commons Main Chamber Debates 18 January 2011’, January 18, 2011.
21 David Cameron, ‘Transcript of Joint Press Conference with Prime Minister Cameron,’ Prime Minister of Australia, October 28, 2011, http://tinyurl.com/7b5fu6o.
22 C.S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1995), 201.
23 Vaz, ‘House of Commons Main Chamber Debates 18 January 2011.’
24 Mr Vaz said: ‘There is also significant public support. A YouGov poll following the royal engagement highlighted strong public support for equality in succession. More than 70% of those polled felt that men and women should be treated equally in the line of succession to the throne. A poll last weekend in probably the most respected local newspaper in the world-the Leicester Mercury-also confirmed that view, with 68% of those who participated agreeing that there should be equal rights to succession.’ ibid.
25 Ipsos MORI Issues Index May 2012. http://www.ipsos-mori.com/Assets/ Docs/Polls/May12Issues%20Index_topline.pdf
26 Martin, ‘Will We See a Female Heir?’.
27 Republicans even used the royal wedding as an opportunity to attack the institution of the monarchy and the role that it plays in public life. See ‘BBC to Be More Sceptical’ of the Royals After Republicans Complain About Fawning’ Wedding Coverage,’ Daily Mail, March 25, 2011, http://tinyurl.com/4f3vcm5.
28 Vaz, ‘House of Commons Main Chamber Debates 18 January 2011.’
29 ‘David Cameron Proposes Changes to Royal Succession.’
30 David Brooks, The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character, and Achievement, 1st ed. (Random House, 2011), 286.
31 Gerald Warner, ‘Amend the Act of Settlement – but Not Yet,’ Telegraph Blogs, April 1, 2009, http://tinyurl.com/42dnt4s. Going back further, since the death of Henry VIII, we calculate that Britain has been ruled by kings for 268 years and queens for 191.
32 See Robin Phillips, ‘Are All People Created Equal?,’ Robin’s Readings and Reflections, October 4, 2011, http://tinyurl.com/3s64a7d.
33 Anthony Browne, The Retreat of Reason: Political Correctness and the Corruption of Public Debate in Modern Britain (Civitas, 2006), 70-74.
34 ‘David Cameron Proposes Changes to Royal Succession.’
35 Vaz, ‘House of Commons Main Chamber Debates 18 January 2011.’
36 Charles Moore, ‘Hark What Discord Follows When You Meddle with the Monarchy,’ The Telegraph, December 16, 2011, loc cit.
37 Graham Smith, cited in Shimpan and Gayle, ‘If Wills and Kate Have a Girl First, She’ll Be Queen! Commonwealth Agrees Historic Change to Give Sex Equality in Royal Succession.’
38 Bath Priory, Two Chartularies of the Priory of St. Peter at Bath: I. The Chartulary in Ms. No. CXI., in the Library of Corpus ChristiCollege, Cambridge. II. Calendar of the Ms. Register in the Library of the Hon. Society of Lincoln’s Inn (Harrison and sons, 1893), xxxix.
39 Douglas Wilson, Reforming Marriage (Canon Press, 1995), 16-18.
40 Bruce A. Ware, ‘Summaries of the Egalitarian and Complementarian Positions on the Role of Women in the Home and in ChristianMinistry,’ The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, n.d., http://tinyurl.com/3uqgy9q. In this quotation Ware is summarizing the case that can be made for the complementarian position, not stating his own view.
41 ‘David Cameron Proposes Changes to Royal Succession.’
42 Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France (Dover Publications, 2006).
43 For an overview of Burke’s life and thought, see Robin Phillips, Saints and Scoundrels (Moscow, ID: Canon Press, 2012).
44 Robin Phillips, ‘The Orwellian Legacy of Tony Blair,’ Robin’s Readings and Reflections, March 31, 2007, http://tinyurl.com/c5bs49.
45 Patrick Hennessy, ‘Plans for Abolition of House of Lords to Be Unveiled’, March 13, 2010, http://tinyurl.com/4xsb96l.
46 Duane A. Garrett, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs (B&H Publishing Group, 1993), 195.
47 ‘The British Succession: Should It Be Changed?,’ The Royal Universe, January 21, 2011, http://tinyurl.com/3b5299x.
48 Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, 69.
49 For example, psychotherapist Susie Orbach has remarked that, ‘The monarchy is the representative of a society still riven with class inequalities … ‘ Cited in ‘New Statesman – Does the Monarchy Still Matter?’.
50 ‘Video: UN Demands Referendum on UK Monarchy – Telegraph’, June 13, 2008, http://tinyurl.com/3aw3b57.
51 See ‘The British Succession: Should It Be Changed?’.
52 ‘Nowadays, most people broadly think that men and women should have equal rights. But how well do such notions fit in a hereditary system? Why should the oldest (of either sex) take all? How can you defend any hereditary system once you get really modern?’ Moore, ‘Hark What Discord Follows When You Meddle with the Monarchy.’
53 Hardinge Stanley Giffard Halsbury (Earl of) and Baron Quintin Hogg Hailsham of St. Marylebone, Halsbury’s laws of England (Butterworths, 1996), vol 35, para 920.
54 loc cit para 924.
55 ‘Nancy Regency Researcher’, n.d., http://tinyurl.com/3ngjthc.
56 In fact, a similar challenge was made in the Sydney Peerage Case of 1782. See R. P Gadd, Peerage Law (ISCA, 1985), 58.
57 ‘Turning … to the general principles of descent applicable to peerages, the leading rules may be summarised as follows: … The male issue are preferred before the female. Thus a son excludes a daughter. … In the case of a peerage limited in tail male … females cannot inherit or transmit to their issue a right to inherit. Males, in other words, can only inherit if they claim through males. Thus, if the peerage is granted to A. and the heirs male of his body, and A. dies, leaving daughters only, the peerage becomes extinct … ‘ Sir Francis Beaufort Palmer, Peerage law in England (Stevens and Sons, Limited, 1907), 97; ‘In the case of a peerage limited in tail male … females cannot inherit or transmit the right to inherit. Therefore, males can only inherit by a claim through males. A peerage granted to A and the Heirs male of his body will be extinct if he dies leaving daughters only.’ Sir Francis Beaufort Palmer, Peerage Law in England (Stevens and Sons, Limited, 1907), 97; ‘In the case of a peerage limited in tail male … females cannot inherit or transmit the right to inherit. Therefore, males can only inherit by a claim through males. A peerage granted to A and the Heirs male of his body will be extinct if he dies leaving daughters only.’Gadd, Peerage Law, 55-58.
And finally:
(2) The authors of this paper are always happy to address meetings and debates
Email stephen@christianvoice.org.uk or telephone 01994 484544 or mobile 07931 490050
‘And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a man die, and have no son, then ye shall cause his inheritance to pass unto his daughter.’ (Numbers 27:8)
‘My son, fear thou the LORD and the king: and meddle not with them that are given to change.’ (Proverbs 24:21-22)
