Saturday 15 March 2014

Act of Settlement: the history of why Catholics cannot rule over Britain

The Act of Settlement in 1701 might be a cause of some embarrassment today but it was enshrined in law with the honourable purpose of securing a stable monarchy and avoiding further bloodshed and division over the state religion.

The Queen at the State Opening of Parliament Photo: AP

England was a predominantly Protestant country by the late 17th century but there was widespread anti-Roman Catholic sentiment, with even the Great Fire of London in 1666 being pinned on “Popish frenzy”.

The century had started with the foiling of Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder plotters in 1605, leading to strict anti-Catholic laws. Yet rows over the religion of the Monarch dominated the 17th century.

In 1649, Oliver Cromwell’s staunchly Protestant Commonwealth overthew Charles I, running the country for 11 years before Charles II was restored to the throne. He converted to Catholicism on his deathbed in 1685.

There was further upheaval in 1689 when the protestants William and Mary of Orange overthrew James II, who had been was accused of subverting his role by favouring fellow Catholics.

By the end of the 17th century fears over the succession had grown because William III was a protestant widower without any no children. This meant the crown would pass to his sister-in-law Anne, whose heir was likely to be her Catholic half-brother.

Parliament stepped in, drawing up the Act of Settlement to rule out any Catholics, or their spouses from becoming monarch. The new legislation stated clearly that no sovereign “shall profess the Popish religion or shall marry a Papist”.

The result was that Queen Anne, who died in 1714, was succeeded by a Protestant German prince, who became King George I.

As the role of the British state expanded with the British Empire, so the number of nations which would need to agree to any change to the law.

In modern times the legislation has continued to have an effect. In 1978, the Queen’s cousin Prince Michael of Kent was removed from the line of succession after marrying Marie-Christine von Reibnitz, a Catholic.

Then last year Autumn Kelly renounced her Catholic faith, allowing her new husband Peter Phillips, the Queen’s grandson, to keep his place in the line of succession.

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