Royal succession gender equality approved by Commonwealth
Leaders of 16 nations agree change to allow an elder daughter to become queen and remove ban on marriage to a Catholic
The biggest shakeup in the rules of royal succession in centuries is to be introduced after the leaders of the 16 Commonwealth nations where the Queen serves as head of state unanimously approved the changes.
David Cameron, who announced the agreement after a meeting of the leaders of the Queen's realms at the Commonwealth heads of government meeting, said that an elder daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge would become Queen.
The changes, which will also lift the ban on anyone in the line of succession marrying a Catholic, were boosted when the Australian prime minister, Julia Gillard, confirmed widespread backing across her country.
Speaking on the opening day of the summit in Perth, Cameron said: "Put simply, if the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were to have a little girl, that girl would one day be our queen The idea that a younger son should become monarch instead of an elder daughter simply because he is a man, or that a future monarch can marry someone of any faith except a Catholic this way of thinking is at odds with the modern countries that we have become."
Gillard, who is chairing the summit, confirmed that she had consulted the premiers of each Australian state who all said they supported the reforms "in principle". Gillard said: "I'm very enthusiastic about it. You would expect the first Australian woman prime minister to be very enthusiastic about a change which equals equality for women in a new area."
The Queen signalled her approval of the changes by allowing her private secretary, Sir Christopher Geidt, to attend the meeting of the leaders of her realms. Geidt was asked to advise the Queen of the unanimous agreement.
Cameron confirmed that Britain would have to publish the legislation first to amend rules that currently say:
An elder daughter should be placed behind a younger son in the line of su! ccession .
The order of succession will in future be determined by the order of birth. The immediate impact will place the Princess Royal, the Queen's daughter, fourth in the line of succession behind the Prince of Wales and his two sons. At the moment the princess is 10th. The Duke of York, who is fourth, will drop to seventh.
Anyone who marries a Roman Catholic is barred from succeeding to the crown.
This will end. The change will not affect the position of the monarch as the supreme governor of the Church of England, because Catholics will still be barred from the throne. The Church of England will remain as the established church.
Descendants of King George II need the monarch's consent to marry.
This will be reformed.
Legislation will amend laws including the Bill of Rights 1688, the Act of Settlement 1700, the Act of Union with Scotland 1706 and the Coronation Oaths Act 1688, Princess Sophia's Precedence Act 1711, the Royal Marriages Act 1772, the Union with Ireland Act 1800, the Accession Declaration Act 1910 and the Regency Act 1937.
Primary legislation will be necessary in Antigua, Canada and Saint Lucia. Papua New Guinea and Tuvalu will not need to enact their own legislation.
Gillard said: "To our modern minds, these seem like simple and very rational changes. That there would no longer be a discrimination against women in the way in which the line of succession works, and that we would not continue the religious prohibition against marriage to a Catholic, these things seem straightforward.
"But just because they seem straightforward to our modern minds doesn't mean that we should underestimate their historical significance, changing as they will for all time the way in which the monarchy works and changing its history. I'm very glad this moment in history has been made in Perth."
Cameron paid tribute to the "60 years of extraordinary public service" by the Queen who opened the summit on Friday. He announced the creation of a Diamond Jubilee! Trust, to be chaired by Sir John Major, to help people in need across the Commonwealth.
Gillard, a republican who emigrated to Australia from Wales at the age of four, also paid tribute to the Queen and indicated there was little appetite to end the role of the monarch as head of state in her country. In a referendum in 1999 the people of Australia rejected a republic because of a failure to agree on a replacement.
"Ultimately the Australian people will work their way through changes to our constitutional arrangements, but there is not a great deal of focus on this in our current national discourse. We did have a republican referendum some time back. I think it is fair to say in contemporary times there is less focus on the issue than there was back then. The Queen has certainly been received with a great degree of affection on this visit literally thousands of Australians turning out to see her wherever she has gone. There is a sense of a personal affection with the Queen which is very on display and a sense of excitement about the young royals as well."
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