The British government has opened talks on changing the 300-year-old law which bars members of the royal family from succeeding to the throne if they marry Catholics, reports said Friday.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Buckingham Palace have discussed plans to change the rules of succession, which also include giving royal women equal rights, the BBC and several newspapers reported. Brown told the BBC: "There are clearly issues about the exclusion of people from the rights of succession and there are clearly issues that have got to be dealt with. "This is not an easy set of answers. "But I think in the 21st century people do expect discrimination to be removed and they do expect us to be looking at all these issues."
Parliamentary proposals on reforming the 1701 Act of Settlement have been made by lawmaker Evan Harris, from the opposition Liberal Democrats, and were due to be discussed in the House of Commons on Friday. The proposals have support across the British political spectrum but they are unlikely to win ministerial backing at this stage as the government needs to prepare the ground for such a complex undertaking, said the BBC.
An opinion poll for the BBC showed strong public support for reform of the monarchy, with 89 percent saying women should have the same rights of succession as men. |