In british royal throne succession line history?

Question

okay it is to my understanding that for the royal future king to succeed to the throne he must marry an anglican/protestant woman right?but i was wondering that in history was there ever a king in line for the throne who went against that rule and sacrificed the throne?just out of curiosity....let's say that the king married an anglican/protestant woman but then the got divorced.and then he remarried again but the woman was roman catholic?would they overthrow him or something?

Answer 1

King Edward VIII of Great Britain sacrificed his throne for Wallis Simpson, a twice-divorced American woman.

Edward VIII, The Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor (23 June 1894 – 28 May 1972) was King of Great Britain, Ireland, the British Dominions beyond the Seas, and Emperor of India from the death of his father, George V (1910–36), on 20 January 1936, until his abdication on 11 December 1936.

Only months into his reign, Edward forced a constitutional crisis by proposing marriage to the American divorcée Wallis Simpson. Although legally Edward could have married Mrs. Simpson and remained king, his various prime ministers opposed the marriage, arguing that the people would never accept her as queen. Rather than give up Mrs. Simpson, Edward chose to abdicate, making him the only monarch of Britain, and indeed any Commonwealth Realm, to have voluntarily relinquished the throne. He is one of the shortest-reigning monarchs in British history, and was never crowned.

After stepping down, his younger brother HRH Prince Albert, Duke of York became King George VI and his niece HRH Princess Elizabeth of York (current Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom)was named "heiress presumptive".

According to the current British line of succession law, anyone who marries a Catholic will be displaced from the line of succession, unless the "bride to be" converts her faith and becomes an Anglican/Protestant.

If a King/Queen marries a Catholic, he/she will probably have to step down and let the next person in line take its crown, however, the British Parliament does have the power and authority to overrule this law by creating a new law to remove this old tradition. So nothing is absolute!

Answer 2

The matter of divorce and remarriage is a special case as the monarch is the head of the Church, but the royal marriages act of 1772 was amended in 2004 so that heirs of George II may marry persons of any or no religion; specifically Roman Catholics.

Answer 3

yes

Answer 4

Yes,there has been a king who married a divorced woman and he caused the greatest abdication crisis in recent history.Edward VIII never made it to his coronation because he wished to marry a twice-divorced woman, Wallis Warfield Simpson.He stepped down "to marry the woman I love"he said to the public after turning in abdication papers,which formally expressed his intentions. His brother,Prince Albert,Duke of York,became King George VI,father of the current Queen Elizabeth II of England.Since, the rigidness against divorce has become less so,but it would take an act of Parliament to get rid of the anti-Catholic legislation. It is quite possible that the King could be told that he could not marry and would have to abdicate,or the laws would have to be changed for him to remarry a Catholic.

Answer 5

Ideally yes, but there's debate that he or she can marry a non Anglican/protestant (including Buddhists, Muslims, Satanists) but can't marry a Catholic. (in theory)

Answer 6

No, the king does NOT have to marry an Anglican.  He can marry whatever he likes and still be king -- as long as she isn't Roman Catholic.  A Roman Catholic is the ONLY religion that is prohibited for a spouse of a monarch or anyone else in line for the throne -- if they want to stay in line.

As unfair as it is, it would probably depend a great deal upon the woman and the king. If she was well-liked, I suspect that a change to the Act of Succession would be supported to allow marriage to a Roman Catholic, as long as the children were brought up CofE.  If, however, she was universally disliked like Wallis Simpson was back in 1935/36, today it may be cause for a challenge not only to the king, but to the monarchy. Edward VIII sacrificed the throne for Wallis Simpson because she had been divorced twice, and, in the eyes of the church, since her husbands were both still living, she was still considered married "under God."  Edward could not act as Defender of the Faith and marry Wallis at the same time.  However, the divorce rule has loosened in the last 70 years -- note the current Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall -- perhaps the religion one will, too.

Answer 7

It's quite possible. Roman Catholics are not allowed to rule in the United Kingdom.

James II (1633 - 1701) succeeded to the throne on the death of his brother Charles II, but James was a Roman Catholic and this was very unpopular with the people and Parliament who feared a Roman Catholic revival in Britain more than anything else.

James was eventually deposed in what was called the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and Parliament then offered the throne to his Protestant daughter and her Dutch Protestant husband (who became Mary II and William III) missing out his son James Francis Edward, who was also a Catholic.

James and his son fled into exile in France under the protection of his cousin King Louis XIV.

Much more recently, King Edward VIII, later Duke of Windsor (1894 - 1972), who had succeeded to the throne in January 1936, on the death of his father King George V (1910 - 36), was forced to abdicate in December of the same year because he wished to marry an American divorcee Wallis Simpson. This would have provoked a constitutional crisis so Parliament gave him the option, either to give up Mrs Simpson, or give up the throne. He chose to abdicate in favour of his brother who became George VI (1895 - 1952) and was the father of the present Queen Elizabeth.

Answer 8

You need not look to far back into history. The Duke and Duchess of Windsor are the perfect example of bucking the establishment for love. Queen Elizabeth's father, George VI, had an older brother "Edward VII" who abdicated because his true love was Ms. Simpson, a 3x American Divorcie. That was a little much for both the church and the Parliment, so he gave it all up, for her.They lived in France most of thier lives, except for a short stint in WWII as he served as Governor General of the Caribean Islands. Both have since died and both are buried together at the royal burial grounds at Frogmore, the same location Queen Victoria and Prince Albert are entombed.