text: The Queen is head of the Catholic Church of England, formed when HenryVIII replaced Pope Clement VII as head. It's still Catholic, just not Roman Catholic.
  
  The laws against Roman Catholicism were a result of attempts to re-establish Roman Catholicism in England. "Bloody Mary" Tudor, daughter of Henry VIII, tried to silence Protestants by burning them at the stake. Elizabeth generally allowed RCs to practise their faith as long as they did not do so openly - no persecution.
  
  Go forward nearly a hundred years and James II tried to re-establish Roman Catholicism. This was the cause of laws discriminating against RCs. It was also a time when many laws were passed that created more rights, including Habeas Corpus. Many of these discriminatory laws were generally ignored and later repealed - except the necessity for the monarch to be a non-RC. How could an RC be head of a Church that refuses to acknowledge the Pope in Rome as its head ?
  
  Princess Mary of Kent is an RC.