A Roman Catholic is specifically excluded from succession to the throne. The Sovereign must, in addition, be in communion with the Church of England and must swear to preserve the established Church of England and the established Church of Scotland. The Sovereign must also promise to uphold the Protestant succession.
Catholics outlawed
In the Bill of Rights of 1689 Parliament declared that no future monarch could be a Catholic or be married to a Catholic. This provision was reaffirmed in the 1701 Act of Settlement and remains in force to this day.
Parliament intervened to ensure the crown could not pass to a Catholic. Parliament drew up the Act of Settlement 1701 which ruled out any Catholics or their spouses from becoming monarch. The new legislation made it clear that no sovereign “shall profess the Popish religious or shall marry a Papist”.
No, the Monarch cannot be a Catholic. And the reason is obvious: the King or Queen of the United Kingdom is also the head of the Church of England. You cannot be the head of a church and belong to another church. It's not discrimination.
King Charles III is the sovereign, and his heir apparent is his elder son, William, Prince of Wales. William's three children are next, in order of birth: Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis.
The King ascended to the throne at the age of 73, making Charles III the oldest person to become monarch in the United Kingdom. He was born at Buckingham Palace on 14 November 1948, four years before his mother's incredible reign began. King Charles III has distributed Maundy money for the first time in his reign.
Contrary to popular belief, the royal family is not Catholic. We repeat, they are not Catholic. The royals are in fact the head of the Church of England, which is a Protestant Anglican church, and they've been a part of this religion since the 16th century.
Converting to a religion other than Anglicanism is rare in the Royal Family, and once incurred harsh punishment. Any royal who converted to Roman Catholicism would have to give up their place in the line of succession.
The Church of England says about 26 million people have been baptised, the Catholic Church claims just over four million members in England and Wales - and another 695,000 in Scotland. Out of a total population of about 60 million, that means about one in 12 people in Great Britain is Catholic.
Parliament's passage of the Act of Supremacy in 1534 solidified the break from the Catholic Church and made the king the Supreme Head of the Church of England.
In 1534 however, Henry pushed through the Act of Supremacy. The Act made him, and all of his heirs, Supreme Head of the Church of England. This meant that the Pope no longer held religious authority in England, and Henry was free to divorce Catherine.
The Duchess of Kent converted to Catholicism in 1994; she was the first member of the royal family to convert publicly since the passing of the Act of Settlement 1701. The Duchess is strongly associated with the world of music and has performed as a member of several choirs.
1685-1688) Born in 1633 and named after his grandfather James I, James II grew up in exile after the Civil War (he served in the armies of Louis XIV) and, after his brother's restoration, commanded the Royal Navy from 1660 to 1673. James converted to Catholicism in 1669.
Both children were brought up in their father's Roman Catholic faith, particularly during the lifetime of their paternal grandmother Ann Parker Bowles; Camilla remained an Anglican and did not convert to Roman Catholicism.
James II / VII | England's last Catholic monarch - Visit Heritage.
There are many reasons for this, including interference in English affairs from the Pope, Elizabeth's role in the Dutch revolt (which angered Catholic Spain), Mary Queen of Scots' arrival in England in 1568 and the rebellion in 1569 that was led by the Catholic Earls Northumberland and Westmoreland.
Elizabeth was known to be a Protestant and many expected she would once again leave the Roman Catholic Church. Elizabeth certainly wanted to do this, but most importantly she wanted a compromise to avoid the 'continual change and alteration' in religion that had happened in the previous twenty years.
The British monarch is not allowed to be Catholic. Nothing can stop them from converting - however if they did so, they would cease to be monarch.
A Roman Catholic is specifically excluded from succession to the throne. The Sovereign must, in addition, be in communion with the Church of England and must swear to preserve the established Church of England and the established Church of Scotland.
Middleton, who was christened as a child, decided to be confirmed into the Church of England preceding her wedding.
As his mother was, Charles is a regular churchgoer and clear that his faith is Christian. In his first address to the nation, on the day after the queen died, Charles cited his “responsibility” to the Church of England, “in which my own faith is so deeply rooted.”
At present, Harry is fifth in line to the throne and this is a birthright “privilege” that cannot be revoked without an Act of Parliament being in place.
The queen had four children: Charles, Anne, Andrew and Edward. Although Anne is older than two of her brothers, she is farther down the line of succession because of an old law that allowed men to skip over women in the line.
In the event of Prince William's death occurring before King Charles's, Prince Harry would still not be the next choice for King, instead that honor would move on to Prince William's eldest son, Prince George.