The law banning Britain's monarch from adopting Catholicism or marrying a Roman Catholic should be withdrawn, the head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales said today.
Speaking ahead of a special multi-faith service to mark Queen Elizabeth's Golden Jubilee celebrations, Archbishop of Westminster Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor said the historic law was out of date and that future monarchs should be free to marry anyone they wanted.
"It is not really and should not be relevant in today's world and today's Britain", he told Sky television.
It's not so much that it is an act of discrimination against Roman Catholics - which it is - but it seems to me to be discrimination against the royal family.
The law banning a monarch or heir-to-the-throne from marrying a Catholic is set out in the 1701 Act of Settlement.
The act aimed to ensure a Protestant succeeded to the throne in the aftermath of the revolution that saw the Catholic James II replaced by the Protestant King William III of Orange.
Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor pointed out that while the law would ban Prince William, Charles' son and the second in line to the throne, from marrying a Catholic, he could still marry anyone of another faith, such as a Hindu or a Buddhist.
- More than eight out of 10 Britons want to keep the monarchy, according to a poll released today. The survey of 3,800 people found 81 per cent support for the monarchy to be retained, although 41 per cent of that group thought it needed reform.