Succession To The Crown Act 2013
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The Succession to the Crown Act 2013 (c. 20) is an Act of the
Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...
that altered the laws of
succession to the British throne Succession to the British throne is determined by descent, gender, legitimacy and religion. Under common law, the Crown is inherited by a sovereign's children or by a childless sovereign's nearest collateral line. The Bill of Rights 1689 an ...
in accordance with the 2011
Perth Agreement The Perth Agreement was made in Australia in 2011 by the prime ministers of the sixteen states known as Commonwealth realms, which at the time all recognised Elizabeth II as their head of state. The document agreed that the governments of the re ...
. The Act replaced
male-preference primogeniture Primogeniture ( ) is the right, by law or custom, of the firstborn legitimate child to inherit the parent's entire or main estate in preference to shared inheritance among all or some children, any illegitimate child or any collateral relativ ...
with absolute primogeniture for those in the line of succession born after 28 October 2011, which means the eldest child, regardless of gender, precedes any siblings. The Act also repealed the
Royal Marriages Act 1772 The Royal Marriages Act 1772 (12 Geo 3 c. 11) was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain which prescribed the conditions under which members of the British royal family could contract a valid marriage, in order to guard against marriages t ...
, ended disqualification of a person who married a
Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
from succession, and removed the requirement for those outside the first six persons in line to the throne to seek the Sovereign's approval to marry. It came into force on 26 March 2015, at the same time as the other
Commonwealth realm A Commonwealth realm is a sovereign state in the Commonwealth of Nations whose monarch and head of state is shared among the other realms. Each realm functions as an independent state, equal with the other realms and nations of the Commonwealt ...
s implemented the Perth Agreement in their own laws.Statement by Nick Clegg MP, UK parliament website
26 March 2015 (retrieved on same date).


Background

Under the Act of Settlement 1701, the throne of the
Kingdom of England The Kingdom of England (, ) was a sovereign state on the island of Great Britain from 12 July 927, when it emerged from various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, until 1 May 1707, when it united with Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain. On 1 ...
was settled on the
Electress Sophia of Hanover Sophia of Hanover (born Princess Sophia of the Palatinate; 14 October 1630 – 8 June 1714) was the Electress of Hanover by marriage to Elector Ernest Augustus and later the heiress presumptive to the thrones of England and Scotland (later Gre ...
and the " heirs of her body", this phrase being understood under English
common law In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omnipresen ...
to imply
male-preference primogeniture Primogeniture ( ) is the right, by law or custom, of the firstborn legitimate child to inherit the parent's entire or main estate in preference to shared inheritance among all or some children, any illegitimate child or any collateral relativ ...
, meaning that brothers would precede sisters in the
line of succession An order of succession or right of succession is the line of individuals necessitated to hold a high office when it becomes vacated such as head of state or an honour such as a title of nobility.papist The words Popery (adjective Popish) and Papism (adjective Papist, also used to refer to an individual) are mainly historical pejorative words in the English language for Roman Catholicism, once frequently used by Protestants and Eastern Orthodo ...
" (Roman Catholic) from inheriting the English throne and removed those who had married Roman Catholics from the line of succession. The treaties that created the
Kingdom of Great Britain The Kingdom of Great Britain (officially Great Britain) was a Sovereign state, sovereign country in Western Europe from 1 May 1707 to the end of 31 December 1800. The state was created by the 1706 Treaty of Union and ratified by the Acts of ...
in 1707 and the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was a sovereign state in the British Isles that existed between 1801 and 1922, when it included all of Ireland. It was established by the Acts of Union 1800, which merged the Kingdom of Great B ...
in 1801 specifically applied these provisions to the new British throne. Article II of the
Acts of Union 1707 The Acts of Union ( gd, Achd an Aonaidh) were two Acts of Parliament: the Union with Scotland Act 1706 passed by the Parliament of England, and the Union with England Act 1707 passed by the Parliament of Scotland. They put into effect the te ...
stated that the "Succession of the Monarchy" is settled by the Act of Settlement 1701 and that the ban of "Papists" from inheriting the throne was to continue according to that Act. Article 2 of
Acts of Union 1801 The Acts of Union 1800 (sometimes incorrectly referred to as a single 'Act of Union 1801') were parallel acts of the Parliament of Great Britain and the Parliament of Ireland which united the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Irela ...
again maintained that the succession rules in place in the new United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland should be "continued limited and settled in the same manner". Since the Acts of Union 1707, male preference primogeniture has operated twice to displace a female by a younger brother: when Princess Augusta's younger brother became King
George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...
on the death of their grandfather King George II (1760); and when Princess Victoria's younger brother became
King Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria a ...
on the death of their mother
Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...
(1901).
Princess Anne Anne, Princess Royal (Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise; born 15 August 1950), is a member of the British royal family. She is the second child and only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and the only sister of K ...
is the younger sister of
King Charles III Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to a ...
. Her place in the line of succession is not affected by the provisions of the Act relating to male preference in that she remains head of the line following those headed by her younger brothers. Their lines continue to precede hers under male preference because all four siblings were born before 28 October 2011.


Agreement in principle (2011) and final consent (2012)

In December 2011 the Statement of Friday 28 October 2011 issued at Perth was published in a House of Commons committee report. It stated that the prime ministers of the sixteen Commonwealth nations "of whom Her Majesty the Queen is Head of State" had "agreed in principle to work together towards a common approach to amending the rules on the succession to their respective Crowns", and that they would wish "unanimously to advise The Queen of their views and seek her agreement." The statement continued: In a letter to the other realms' heads of government, prior to the Perth Agreement, British Prime Minister
David Cameron David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...
had additionally proposed to limit the requirement to obtain the monarch's permission to marry to the first six people in line to the throne. On 4 December 2012, Deputy Prime Minister
Nick Clegg Sir Nicholas William Peter Clegg (born 7 January 1967) is a British media executive and former Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom who has been president for global affairs at Meta Platforms since 2022, having previously been vicepr ...
announced:


Progress in Parliament

The bill was published on 13 December 2012, and after passing both Houses of Parliament it received
royal assent Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in other ...
on 25 April 2013, immediately before the
prorogation Prorogation in the Westminster system of government is the action of proroguing, or interrupting, a parliament, or the discontinuance of meetings for a given period of time, without a dissolution of parliament. The term is also used for the peri ...
of Parliament that day. The purpose of the Succession to the Crown Act is to give effect in the United Kingdom to the Perth agreement. The British government announced that the Act's provisions were not intended to come into force before the appropriate domestic arrangements were in place in the other Commonwealth realms.


Provisions


Gender

Males born after 28 October 2011 no longer precede their elder sisters in the line of succession. There has not yet been a monarch's succession affected by the new rule. The first people in the line of succession to be affected by the changes on the date they came into force were the children of
Lady Davina Lewis Lady Davina Elizabeth Alice Benedikte Windsor (born 19 November 1977), known as Lady Davina Lewis between 2004 and 2018, is the elder daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester. Montgomery-Massingberd, Hugh. " Burke’s Royal Families of th ...
, her son Tāne (born 2012) and her daughter Senna (born 2010), who were reversed in the order of succession, becoming 29th and 28th in line respectively."What do the new royal succession changes mean?"
at ''Royal Central'' website, 26 March 2015 (retrieved 30 March 2015).
The current first affected successor in line is
Princess Charlotte of Wales Princess Charlotte of Wales may refer to: * Princess Charlotte of Wales (1796–1817), the only child of George, Prince of Wales, later King George IV of the United Kingdom ** Princess Charlotte of Wales (1812 EIC ship), a ship named after the pri ...
, who would otherwise be preceded by
Prince Louis of Wales Prince Louis of Wales ( ; Louis Arthur Charles; born 23 April 2018) is a member of the British royal family. He is the third and youngest child, as well as the second son, of William, Prince of Wales, and Catherine, Princess of Wales. Louis ...
. When the Act came into force in May 2013, the Duchess of Cambridge was expecting her first child, and its provisions would have had significant effect had the child been a girl, with media commentary focusing on the potential for the birth to make history. In the event it was a boy,
Prince George of Wales Prince George of Wales (George Alexander Louis; born 22 July 2013) is a member of the British royal family. He is the eldest child of William, Prince of Wales, and Catherine, Princess of Wales. George is the eldest grandchild of King Charl ...
, who was born in July that year, and upon whom the Act had no practical effect. However, it has since taken on significance for his younger siblings. Princess Charlotte of Wales was from her birth on 2 May 2015 fourth in line to the Throne, after Prince George and ahead of
Prince Harry Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, (Henry Charles Albert David; born 15 September 1984) is a member of the British royal family. He is the younger son of Charles III and his first wife Diana, Princess of Wales. He is fifth in the line of succ ...
, just as she would have been had the Act not been passed. However, due to the provisions of the Act, she has retained her place in the succession ahead of her younger brother
Prince Louis of Wales Prince Louis of Wales ( ; Louis Arthur Charles; born 23 April 2018) is a member of the British royal family. He is the third and youngest child, as well as the second son, of William, Prince of Wales, and Catherine, Princess of Wales. Louis ...
, who was born on 23 April 2018.


Marriage to Roman Catholics

Marrying a Roman Catholic no longer disqualifies a person from succeeding to the Crown.Succession to the Crown Bill, Schedule paragraph 5 (as introduced) The explanation published when the bill was introduced mentioned that those who had lost their places in the line of succession by marrying a Roman Catholic would regain their places, but that those "with a realistic prospect of succeeding to the Throne" would not be affected. The first person in the new line of succession to be affected by this change when it came into effect was George Windsor, Earl of St Andrews, who had married a Roman Catholic in 1988 and was restored to the line of succession in 34th place, after his father
Prince Edward, Duke of Kent Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, (Edward George Nicholas Paul Patrick; born 9 October 1935) is a member of the British royal family. Queen Elizabeth II and Edward were first cousins through their fathers, King George VI, and Prince George, Duk ...
. The provision of the
Act of Settlement The Act of Settlement is an Act of the Parliament of England that settled the succession to the English and Irish crowns to only Protestants, which passed in 1701. More specifically, anyone who became a Roman Catholic, or who married one, bec ...
prohibiting the monarch from being a Roman Catholic continues. Some have raised concerns about this portion of the act, given that the
Canon Law of the Catholic Church The canon law of the Catholic Church ("canon law" comes from Latin ') is "how the Church organizes and governs herself". It is the system of laws and ecclesiastical legal principles made and enforced by the hierarchical authorities of the Cathol ...
, says that Catholics who marry baptized non-Catholics, before getting permission to marry the non-Catholic must "make a sincere promise to do all in his or her power so that all offspring are baptized and brought up in the Catholic faith". In a case where a Catholic's child was in the succession line to the throne, this would bring up clashes with the current ban on Roman Catholics reigning on the throne.


Consent to marriages

The
Royal Marriages Act 1772 The Royal Marriages Act 1772 (12 Geo 3 c. 11) was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain which prescribed the conditions under which members of the British royal family could contract a valid marriage, in order to guard against marriages t ...
is repealed. Instead, only the first six persons in line to the throne require the Sovereign's approval to marry. For these six, marriage without the Sovereign's consent would disqualify the person and the person's descendants from succeeding to the Crown. However, the marriage would still be legally valid. Marriages legally void under the Royal Marriages Act 1772 will be treated as never having been void, except for purposes relating to the succession to the Crown, provided all the following conditions are met: # Neither party to the marriage was one of the six persons next in the line of succession to the Crown at the time of the marriage. # No consent was sought under section 1 of that Act, or notice given under section 2 of that act,That is, this section does not apply to marriages for which prior consent was asked but not given. in respect of the marriage. # In all the circumstances it was reasonable for the person concerned not to have been aware at the time of the marriage that the act applied to it. # No person acted before the coming into force of the 2013 Act on the basis that the marriage was void.That is, the section does not re-establish a marriage as valid if somebody already litigated on the grounds that the marriage was void.


Consequential amendments

Provisions in the
Acts of Union 1707 The Acts of Union ( gd, Achd an Aonaidh) were two Acts of Parliament: the Union with Scotland Act 1706 passed by the Parliament of England, and the Union with England Act 1707 passed by the Parliament of Scotland. They put into effect the te ...
, between England and Scotland, and in the
Acts of Union 1800 The Acts of Union 1800 (sometimes incorrectly referred to as a single 'Act of Union 1801') were parallel acts of the Parliament of Great Britain and the Parliament of Ireland which united the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Irela ...
, between Great Britain and Ireland, that involve the Crown are "subject to provisions of" the Act, several sections in the
Bill of Rights 1689 The Bill of Rights 1689 is an Act of the Parliament of England, which sets out certain basic civil rights and clarifies who would be next to inherit the Crown, and is seen as a crucial landmark in English constitutional law. It received Royal ...
"And whereas it hath eenfound by Experience that it is inconsistent with the Safety ... of this ... ingdomto be governed by a Popish Prince ''or by any King or Queene marrying a Papist'' ..." (emphasis added)"That all and every person and persons that is ... or shall profess the popish religion, ''or shall marry a Papist,'' shall be excluded and be for ever ncapableto inherit ... the Crowne ... of this Realme ... and the said Crowne ... shall ... descend to ... Protestants as should have inherited ... the same in case the said person or persons soe reconciled ... ''or Marrying'' as aforesaid ... were naturally dead" (emphasis added) and the Act of Settlement 1701" ery Person ... should professe the Popish Religion ''or marry a Papist'' should be excluded ... to inherit ... the Crown ... of this Realm" (emphasis added) case the said Person or Persons ... ''or marrying'' as aforesaid were naturally dead." (emphasis added)"That all and every Person and Persons who shall or may take or inherit the said Crown ... and is are ... or shall profess the Popish Religion ''or shall marry a Papist'' shall be subject to such Incapacities" (emphasis added) involving marriages with "
papist The words Popery (adjective Popish) and Papism (adjective Papist, also used to refer to an individual) are mainly historical pejorative words in the English language for Roman Catholicism, once frequently used by Protestants and Eastern Orthodo ...
s" (Catholics) were repealed. Any references to provisions relating to "the succession to, or possession of, the Crown" also include, by reference, the provisions of this act. However, the sections that ban Catholic succession were not repealed. Catholics are still officially termed as being "naturally dead and deemed to be dead" in terms of succession. This distinction was first legislated in the Bill of Rights 1689.
Jacob Rees-Mogg Jacob William Rees-Mogg (born 24 May 1969) is a British politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for North East Somerset since 2010. Now a backbencher, he served as Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council ...
( Con) also confirmed "the Act of Settlement deems somebody who has been a Catholic for a minute to be 'dead' in terms of the succession, and it passes over them 'as if they were dead'. It is an absolute. If at any moment in their whole life they were in communion with Rome, they are excluded from the throne, deemed to be dead."
Mark Durkan Mark Durkan (born 26 June 1960) is a retired Irish nationalist politician from Northern Ireland. Durkan was the deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland from November 2001 to October 2002, and the Leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Pa ...
(
SDLP The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) ( ga, Páirtí Sóisialta Daonlathach an Lucht Oibre) is a social-democratic and Irish nationalist political party in Northern Ireland. The SDLP currently has eight members in the Northern Irela ...
) made a comparison of this with
McCarthyism McCarthyism is the practice of making false or unfounded accusations of subversion and treason, especially when related to anarchism, communism and socialism, and especially when done in a public and attention-grabbing manner. The term origin ...
, "In effect, it is the McCarthyite question: 'Are you now or have you ever been a Catholic?'”. He then went on with a summary of the proviso saying, "For anybody who has ever been a Catholic in any shape or form, that is it, they are out; they count as dead for these purposes." The ban continues. A person who has never been a Catholic but who is not Protestant is permitted to succeed if they convert to a Protestant communion, since a Protestant monarch is required by the
Acts of Union 1707 The Acts of Union ( gd, Achd an Aonaidh) were two Acts of Parliament: the Union with Scotland Act 1706 passed by the Parliament of England, and the Union with England Act 1707 passed by the Parliament of Scotland. They put into effect the te ...
. As the monarch's eldest son will no longer automatically be
heir apparent An heir apparent, often shortened to heir, is a person who is first in an order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person; a person who is first in the order of succession but can be displaced by the b ...
, the
Treason Act 1351 The Treason Act 1351 is an Act of the Parliament of England which codified and curtailed the common law offence of treason. No new offences were created by the statute. It is one of the earliest English statutes still in force, although it has b ...
was also amended, so that encompassing the death of the monarch's eldest son is now extended to murdering the heir apparent, whatever the sex. Another amendment to the Treason Act is that, whereas it had been treason to "violate" the monarch's eldest son's wife, it is now only treason if the eldest son is also the eldest child. The
Regency Act 1937 The Regency Acts are Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed at various times, to provide a regent in the event of the reigning monarch being incapacitated or a minor (under the age of 18). Prior to 1937, Regency Acts were passed only ...
was amended to require the
regent A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...
to be a person who had not been disqualified from the succession by marrying without the monarch's permission under the 2013 Act.


Commencement

None of the provisions of the act altering the law, including those which will or may affect any direct or collateral
line of succession to the British throne Succession to the British throne is determined by descent, gender, legitimacy and religion. Under common law, the Crown is inherited by a sovereign's children or by a childless sovereign's nearest collateral line. The Bill of Rights 1689 a ...
, were to come into force until a day appointed for it by a commencement order made by the
Lord President of the Council The lord president of the Council is the presiding officer of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom and the fourth of the Great Officers of State (United Kingdom), Great Officers of State, ranking below the Lord High Treasurer but above the ...
.Section 5 only involves commencement and the
short title In certain jurisdictions, including the United Kingdom and other Westminster-influenced jurisdictions (such as Canada or Australia), as well as the United States and the Philippines, primary legislation has both a short title and a long title. Th ...
and does not include any clause about succession. The person who will actually succeed will continue to be the person who at the time of the next
demise of the Crown Demise of the Crown is the legal term in the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth realms for the transfer of the Crown upon the death of the monarch. The Crown transfers automatically to the monarch's heir. The concept evolved in the kingdom of En ...
is the
heir apparent An heir apparent, often shortened to heir, is a person who is first in an order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person; a person who is first in the order of succession but can be displaced by the b ...
or presumptive, and the act does not alter the
Accession Council In the United Kingdom, the Accession Council is a ceremonial body which assembles in St James's Palace in London upon the death of a monarch to make formal proclamation of the accession of the successor to the throne. Under the terms of the Ac ...
's responsibility to meet for the purposes of the Act of Settlement and Acts of Union and to direct a proclamation of accession to be read in public places, as in the case of the
proclamation of accession of Elizabeth II Elizabeth II was proclaimed queen throughout the Commonwealth after her father, King George VI, died in the early hours of 6 February 1952, while Elizabeth was in Kenya. Proclamations were made in different Commonwealth realms on 6, 7, 8, and 11 ...
.
When publishing the bill the government had announced that it was expecting to bring the provisions into force at the same time as the other realms would be bringing into force any changes to their legislation or other changes necessary for them to implement the Perth Agreement. This was done on 26 March 2015.


External reference

The legislation passed in the realms of Australia, Barbados, and Canada make reference to the United Kingdom legislation in different ways. The
Succession to the Crown Act 2015 The ''Succession to the Crown Act 2015'' (Cth) is an Act of the Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia, which was enacted at the request of all six Australian states as required by the Australian Constitution. The Australian acts were th ...
, passed by the parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia, is expressed to be for changing "the law relating to the effect of gender and marriage on royal succession, consistently with changes made to that law in the United Kingdom, so that the Sovereign of Australia is the same person as the Sovereign of the United Kingdom". The Succession to the Throne Act, 2013, passed by the parliament of Canada, refers to the bill (not the act): "The alteration in the law touching the Succession to the Throne set out in the bill laid before the Parliament of the United Kingdom and entitled A Bill to Make succession to the Crown not depend on gender; to make provision about Royal Marriages; and for connected purposes is assented to." The parliament of Barbados' Succession to the Throne Act, 2013, uses similar wording to Canada's law: "The Parliament of Barbados acquiesces to the alteration in the law relating to the Succession to the Throne set out in the Bill laid before the Parliament of the United Kingdom and entitled A Bill to make succession to the Crown not depend on gender; to make provision about Royal Marriages; and for connected purposes."


Commentary


Church of England

On 21 January 2013, the Church of England published a briefing endorsing the bill's provisions and stating, "The use of fast-tracking procedures or the billis acceptable." The same day, the ''Telegraph'' reported that the Church of England had written to MPs to express its official backing for the proposed changes.


House of Commons

A report on the rules of royal succession was prepared by the Political and Constitutional Reform Select Committee of the
House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
, chaired by Graham Allen, and was published in December 2011. The report welcomed the proposals, but drew attention to "connected issues that may be raised when the proposals are debated, depending on the scope of the bill, especially the future role of the Crown in the Church of England, and the continued ineligibility of women to succeed to the majority of
hereditary peerage The hereditary peers form part of the peerage in the United Kingdom. As of September 2022, there are 807 hereditary peers: 29 dukes (including five royal dukes), 34 marquesses, 190 earls, 111 viscounts, and 443 barons (disregarding subsidi ...
s, which remains a matter of public interest for as long as it has an impact on gender balance in the House of Lords". On 9 September 2012, the British government published a response to the report, reiterating that it intended to implement the
Perth Agreement The Perth Agreement was made in Australia in 2011 by the prime ministers of the sixteen states known as Commonwealth realms, which at the time all recognised Elizabeth II as their head of state. The document agreed that the governments of the re ...
but had no plans to change the laws of succession to peerages or the established status of the Church of England.


House of Lords

On 21 January 2013, the House of Lords Constitution Committee published a report opposing the Government's plan to fast-track the bill, citing the legislation's "constitutional significance" and "possible unintended consequences". In response, the Government expanded the time allocated for the bill's debate in the House of Commons from one day to two days, and it decided not to fast-track the bill in the House of Lords, where the normal time limits were observed.


Bill stages

The first reading (introduction) of the bill in the House of Commons took place on 13 December 2012. Passage of an Allocation of Time motion, the second reading, and the committee stage (in the form of a Committee of the Whole House) took place on 22 January 2013. The report stage and third reading (passage) took place on 28 January 2013. The only amendment made in the House of Commons was to insert the words "from the marriage" after the word "descendants" in section 3(3), which was passed without debate. The first reading of the bill in the House of Lords took place on 29 January 2013. The bill passed second reading on 14 February 2013 and was reviewed by committee on 28 February 2013. The report stage was on 13 March 2013. The bill was passed at the third reading on 22 April. No amendments were made to the bill in the House of Lords, and it received the Royal Assent on 25 April 2013.


Consents for marriages under the Act

Consents for marriages under the Act appear in the Privy Council Orders. The first person in line of succession to receive consent under the new law was
Prince Harry Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, (Henry Charles Albert David; born 15 September 1984) is a member of the British royal family. He is the younger son of Charles III and his first wife Diana, Princess of Wales. He is fifth in the line of succ ...
.


Notes


See also

*
Monarchy of the United Kingdom The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the constitutional form of government by which a hereditary sovereign reigns as the head of state of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies (the Bailiwi ...
*
Succession to the British throne Succession to the British throne is determined by descent, gender, legitimacy and religion. Under common law, the Crown is inherited by a sovereign's children or by a childless sovereign's nearest collateral line. The Bill of Rights 1689 an ...
*
Royal Succession Act 2013 The Royal Succession Act is an act of the New Zealand parliament to alter the laws of succession to the New Zealand throne. Compared to the Canadian Succession to the Throne Act, 2013 which merely proposes to assent to the British Succession to ...
, New Zealand legislation to implement the Perth Agreement. *
Equality (Titles) Bill The Equality (Titles) Bill, known colloquially as the "Downton Law" and "Downton Abbey Law", was a Bill of the Parliament of the United Kingdom introduced in 2013 that would have ended a measure of gender discrimination and allowed for equal su ...
, related UK legislation pertaining to the succession of female heirs to hereditary titles and peerages


References


External links

*
Full text of the Act



Research paper by the House of Commons Library
{{UK legislation British monarchy Constitutional laws of the United Kingdom Succession to the British crown Perth Agreement United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 2013 Succession acts