Parliament debates monarchy Bill

BY SIMON CALDWELL
A CATHOLIC politician has proposed the abolition of the ban on a British monarch marrying a Roman Catholic.
Edward Leigh, the Conservative MP for Gainsborough, introduced his Royal Marriages (Freedom of Religion) Bill into the House of Commons in an attempt to repeal anti-Catholic sections of four Acts of Parliament. The Bill, introduced under the Ten Minute Rule, would “allow any member of the Royal Family to marry a person of any religion or none”. It focuses exclusively on the prohibition on anyone in line to the throne marrying a Catholic.
Mr Leigh told Parliament that the Act was “wrong”, and “discriminatory”. It perpetuated the values of 16th and 17th century Britain and the “myth” that British Catholics were disloyal he said.
“Out of the universe of eligible young women in Europe and around the world, the ban applies only to Roman Catholics,” he told MPs last Tuesday adding that Prince William, if he chose, could marry somebody who was Jewish or Muslim, atheist or agnostic or even a satanist.
Mr Leigh said: “Prince William would be barred from the succession if he were to marry a Roman Catholic, but if his bride became a Roman Catholic after the marriage ceremony, he could go on to become the monarch. That is ridiculous.” He also said it was illogical to forbid a monarch marrying a Catholic of the opposite sex when he or she would be allowed to enter into civil partnerships with Catholics of the same sex.
“A male member of the royal family, if he were so inclined, could choose to contract a civil partnership with a Roman Catholic man, under recent legislation,” he said.
The Bill will receive its Second Reading on April 8, the day Prince Charles marries his mistress, Camilla Parker Bowles, in Windsor.
Mr Leigh said that by focusing narrowly on the position of the monarch, the Bill did not require swingeing reform of the constitution, therefore removing one of the key obstacles blocking previous attempts to change the legislation.