Reform Of The Rules Of Succession

[hmmm_tea]

PM and Palace 'discussed reform'

To say that I'm not the countries biggest royalist, would be a bit of an understatement, but neither have I seen any strong argument to abolish them.

They don't have a lot of power anymore (quite rightly in my view) and what powers they do have generally seem to be being phased out as we reform old laws. This bizarrely leaves them with very little purpose other than to be the Royal Family. As such, they're now more like a living cultural artifact or piece of artwork based which we like to show off to foreign nationals and they seem to relish it.

They are a big part of our history and hence our culture, but given this they should in some way reflect modern culture as well as the traditional.

It seems therefore sensible that as we are now in the 21st century these rules should be updated to include modern thoughts on equality and remove any issues regarding sex, religion, etc.

Comments

[ewx.livejournal.com]

I notice that they don't seem to be considering removing the ban on Catholics succeeding to the throne, merely on their spouses doing so. Given that (allegedly) any change would need synchronization across a bunch of other countries[1], it seems bizarre to do only half the job on merely practical grounds.

[1] something I think is ridiculous but that's a separate question.

I'd rather we had a republic too but pretty obviously we're not very likely to get one in the near future.

[hmmm-tea.livejournal.com]

I hadn't considered the ban on Catholics succeeding. Seems odd to miss that out, but I suppose it's a step in the right direction all the same.

I don't get why the synchronization is such an issue. Does it really matter if the monarchy of Britain and Australia (to pick a former colony at random) branch off in different directions?

[ewx.livejournal.com]

I believe the synchronization thing is a matter of an international treaty, and most governments tend not to like breaking those (especially when they are with friendly countries). Like I say, I think the requirement is silly...