The end of male primogeniture
Hallelujah! I am so happy I have lived to see this:
Girls equal in British throne succession
Sons and daughters of any future UK monarch will have equal right to the throne, after Commonwealth leaders agreed to change succession laws.
The leaders of the 16 Commonwealth countries where the Queen is head of state unanimously approved the changes at a summit in Perth, Australia.
It means a first-born daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge would take precedence over younger brothers.
The ban on the monarch being married to a Roman Catholic was also lifted.
Under the old succession laws, dating back more than 300 years, the heir to the throne is the first-born son of the monarch. Only when there are no sons, as in the case of the Queen’s father George VI, does the crown pass to the eldest daughter.
The succession changes will require a raft of historic legislation to be amended, including Britain’s 1701 Act of Settlement, the 1689 Bill of Rights and the Royal Marriages Act 1772.
The change to the Royal Marriages Act will end a position where every descendant of George II is legally required to seek the consent of the monarch before marrying.
In future, the requirement is expected to be limited to a small number of the sovereign’s close relatives.
Announcing the succession changes, Prime Minister David Cameron said they would apply to descendents of the Prince of Wales. They will not be applied retrospectively.
“Put simply, if the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were to have a little girl, that girl would one day be our queen,” he said.
“The idea that a younger son should become monarch instead of an elder daughter simply because he is a man, or that a future monarch can marry someone of any faith except a Catholic – this way of thinking is at odds with the modern countries that we have become.”
Australia’s Prime Minister Julia Gillard said it was an extraordinary moment: “I’m very enthusiastic about it. You would expect the first Australian woman prime minister to be very enthusiastic about a change which equals equality for women in a new area.”
She said the changes appeared to be straightforward. “But just because they seem straightforward to our modern minds doesn’t mean that we should underestimate their historical significance, changing as they will for all time the way in which the monarchy works and changing its history.”
There were premature reports a few weeks ago that this had already happened, but it hadn’t. This agreement today in Perth is the real milestone. True, the legislation still has to be approved by the individual governments back home in each Commonwealth country, but everybody seems to be assuming that will happen with no problem.
9 Responses to “The end of male primogeniture”
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J says:
Sons and daughters of any future UK monarch will have equal right to the throne, after Commonwealth leaders agreed to change succession laws.
Excellent!
Now all they need to do is abolish the monarchy and we in the UK / Commonwealth can enter the post-19th century!
October 28th, 2011 at 5:06 pm EST -
Swannie says:
Evolution is slow , but inevitable …
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Ciardha says:
It’s a shame the councilors in Japan are still so rigidly patriarchal, the Japanese public is still overwhelmingly in support of the same sort of law, which would mean Princess Aiko would have succeeded her father Naruhito (oldest child of Emperor Akahito and Empress Michiko). There’s been a sea change in Japanese culture in the past 25 years- in large part to strong the influence of Japanese feminism- which was given a major push by their first female “speaker of the house” Takako Doi (who achieved that position before Nancy Pelosi did, and unlike Pelosi, Doi fought hard to strength female equality laws that had been just words on paper, and pushed through a sexual harassment law). There’s a significant segment in Japan who feel women are more constructive and effective leaders and would like even a symbolic female leader like what Aiko would have become. (It also helped tha Doi never had no sleazy scandals connected to her like almost all the male politicians seem to have- either/or sex or money)
The councilors surrounding the emperor (and who have welded a lot of power over them by long tradition) have way too much power and are extremely rigid and nasty people- the are known to have harassed both empress Michiko and crown princess Masako because they were from truly commoner families- no connection to any old noble families. Michiko and Masako are both known to have had nervous breakdowns due to the councilors harassment. Naruhito stood up to them more than his father did- bluntly telling them to stop.
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propertius says:
I have never understood the fascination that the British monarchy holds for so many here in the States. That an atavistic, medieval institution now allows both the sons and daughters of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha equal opportunity to become pointless figureheads of a defunct empire hardly seems like a feminist triumph to me. I figure my ancestors came here to get away from that stuff.
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K.A. says:
To me, the monarchy is largely symbolic anyway, so this development is indeed an important symbolic victory for women’s humanity!
Where did your interest in the royals come from, Violet? I vaguely recall you saying that you and your sibling found a book about them as children, and, being curious and bright, the two of you absorbed the history of their lineage’s saga. It seems like a more interesting adult hold-over than Grand Theft Auto.
/kidstoday
//getoffmylawnBut I may have totally made up backstories about you. It happens.
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K.A. says:
I wish you had an edit button so that I might amend the violence I do to the royal language on a regular basis.
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Shane says:
A bit of a tangent, but seeing she’s quoted in the article above, I thought you might be interested in a speech Julia Gillard gave a few weeks ago. Very feminist, and unsurprisingly very little reported in the Australian media. http://www.pm.gov.au/press-off.....n-canberra
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Sameol says:
That was amazing. It’s hard to imagine an American politician expressing many of those sentiments to an organization like EMILY’S list, the controversy it would cause would be out-of-control. Depressing thought.
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curtrice says:
Even with these changes, the succession rules have interesting nuances which reveal deeply sexist perspectives and which make it clear that success by a man or a woman are two very different things. Here’s an explanation of the current challenge:
The royal glass ceiling: Why can’t women be kings? http://wp.me/p1xS1Q-gh
