Few would argue that three of the most celebrated monarchs have been female:
Queen Elizabeth I, Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth II.
Now it appears increasingly likely that Britain and the Commonwealth may
ultimately see even more female monarchs reign victorious as debate about the "discriminatory" Act of Succession and Act of Settlement returns to the political agenda in Britain.
Heralding newspaper headlines the likes of which we have seen numerous times
over this past decade alone, it’s reported today that the Solicitor-General is
overseeing plans to abolish the law which sees a female automatically superceded
by their younger brother/s in the royal line of succession.
According to Vera Baird, a new equality law is essential.
In an
unfortunate piece of wording which makes the House of Windsor sound akin to alien life form, the Solicitor-General tells this weekend's Sunday Times: "I have always thought that what we have to do with the royal
family is integrate them as far as possible into the human race."
Ms Baird also appears intent on overhauling the law which essentially bans a member
of the Royal Family from marrying a Catholic whilst still retaining their
position in the line of succession.
This debate is especially pertinent at this time, for next month the Queen’s
eldest grandson, Peter Phillips, is set to marry his Canadian-born, Catholic fiancée
Autumn Kelly.
According to the solicitor-general: "The ban on
Catholics should be abolished, too, because that is discriminatory."
