Government urged to ensure Royal children are not raised as Catholics
Former adviser to the Queen calls for reassurance from the Vatican that British Royal heirs can be raised Anglican ahead of reforms to the anti-Catholic Act of Settlement
A former adviser to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II has urged the British Government to ensure children of the Royal family can never be raised Catholic.
Lord Luce (above), the former Lord Chamberlain of the Queen’s Household, was speaking in a House of Lords debate last week about proposed changes to the anti-Catholic Act of Settlement.
Under the Government’s plans, a first-born daughter of the Duke of Cambridge would become Queen, even if she had a younger brother, while Catholics would no longer be prevented from marrying heirs to the throne.
However, Lord Luce urged ministers to hold talks with the Vatican to ensure Catholics were still prohibited from ascending to the throne.
“For children to retain their place in the line of succession, they must be brought up within the Anglican Faith,” he told the Lords. “I ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they would consider exploring with the Roman Catholic Church, but perhaps particularly with the Archbishop of Westminster, whether it will clarify further its attitude.”
The peer suggested that the Catholic Church should make a clear statement that it accepts ‘the importance of the role’ of the Church of England and that royal children of an inter-faith marriage ‘would be likely to be brought up in the Anglican faith.’
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And what if an heir to the throne were to marry a Muslim?