Royal's fiancée gives up her Catholic faith

BY DAVID V BARRETT THE FIANCEE of Peter Phillips, the Princess Royal's son. has renounced her Catholic faith so that he will not have to renounce his place in the royal succession. Autumn Kelly. 29, has been confirmed into the Church of England following instruction from the Dean of Windsor, according to a Buckingham Palace spokeswoman last week.
"Her decision to give up her Catholic faith means that Mr Phillips, who is llth in line to the throne even though his mother decided he should not have an HRH title, will not have to renounce his claim," she said.
Under the 1701 Act of Succession the monarch is forbidden to be a Catholic, or to be married to one. Had Mr Phillips given up his right to succession he would not have been the first to do so. In 1978 the Queen's cousin Prince Michael of Kent, then eighth in line, gave up his place when he married a Catholic divorcee, Marie-Christine von Reibnitz.
Mr Phillips, 30, is the Queen's oldest grandson and will be the first of her grandchildren to many. He and Canaclkin Miss Kelly. a management consultant, will be married in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle on May 17. Prince William will be the best man, and most senior royals including the Queen are expected to attend.
Miss Kelly was baptised a Catholic in Montreal in 1978. The decision to renounce her Catholic faith was hers alone, according to the Buckingham Palace spokeswoman. "Autumn Kelly was welcomed into the Church of England some time ago," she said.
The couple have a flat in Kensington, London, and also have a small cottage at Gatcombe Park, Princess Anne's Gloucestershire home.
The Act of Succession was introduced in the aftermath of the removal of the Catholic King James H and his replacement by the Protestant William of Orange in 1688. Its aim was to ensure that a Catholic could never again become king or queen of England. But it has become controversial in recent years. "We still have on our Statute Books the embers of what was once a burning fire," Lord Alton has said.
In the age of religious pluralism the issue of Catholics being barred not only from the throne. but also from marrying a monarch (or potential monarch) appears to many, including religious leaders, to be an anachronism. There is no restriction against a monarch, or anyone in line to the throne, being married to a Jew, a Muslim, a Hindu, a Buddhist, or a member of any other religion except Catholicism. But successive govemments have shied away from attempting to abolish it because of the constitutional complexities.
Mary Kenny: Page 10