The British government announced on 30 April that there would be no change to the feudal Act of Settlement that favours males for head of state and bars Catholics.
In April the government had announced its
intention of ending the discrimination against women that the Act requires. Solicitor General Vera Baird is reported to have called the feudal law “a load of rubbish”.
The marriage of Peter Philips to Canadian Catholic Autumn Kelly has also led to calls for reform. Mr. Philips holds the eleventh position in the line of possible heads of state but would have lost his place on marrying Ms. Kelly. She converted to Anglicanism, however, allowing Philips to keep his position.
Britain’s feudal constitution bars all citizens who are not members of the Windsor family from their country’s chief public office.