Tag Archives: royal primogeniture

Mark Pack

Commonwealth governments agree to end sexism in Royal succession rules

By Mark Pack | Sat 29th October 2011 - 12:24 pm

From the BBC comes the news:

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.

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Mark Pack

Where Lynne Featherstone leads, David Cameron follows – once again

By Mark Pack | Wed 12th October 2011 - 7:36 pm

We’ve covered before on Lib Dem Voice the campaign by Lynne Featherstone and others to end the built-in sexism in the rules of Royal succession, whereby men automatically come ahead of women in the line of succession (‘Royal primogeniture’), a cause which has overwhelming public support.

One complication is that our monarch is also the monarch of other countries, which makes changes the rules a matter of both international diplomacy and domestic action. So good news today with David Cameron’s decision to write to 16 Commonwealth leaders about getting the rules changed.

As Lynne Featherstone put it previously about …

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Mark Pack

Government takes a small step forward in removing sexism in Royal inheritance

By Mark Pack | Thu 30th June 2011 - 10:42 pm

The Evening Standard reports:

George Osborne just made a historic announcement about the Royal finances.

His reforms, signalled first in his Budget a year ago, pave the way for a first-born daughter of Kate and William to be Heir to the Throne.

The heir is supported by £16 million a year revenues from the Duchy of Cornwall estate. At present the Duke is Prince Charles.  But a girl cannot become a duke, so Osborne is changing the rules.

“We propose to correct this anomaly by making clear that in future the revenues of the Duchy of Cornwall will go to the heir whether

…

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Mark Pack

Overwhelming public support to end sexism in Royal succession

By Mark Pack | Tue 3rd May 2011 - 3:53 pm

Last month Nick Clegg took up the issue which Lynne Featherstone and Evan Harris had previously been pushing, namely changing the rules of Royal succession so that men and women are treated equally, rather than men being given preference over women.

One of YouGov’s post-Royal Wedding questions was about Royal primogeniture and found overwhelming backing for the change:

Currently male children of the monarch take precedence over female children in terms of the succession. Do you think men and women should be treated equally in the line of succession to the throne?

Should 76%
Should not 14%
Don’t know 10%

A slightly different …

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Mark Pack

In other news… Croatian justice, the monarchy, death penalty impeded and elections news

By Mark Pack | Sun 17th April 2011 - 11:57 am

More good news on the increasing reach of international justice: “Two Croatian military leaders have been convicted of atrocities against Serbs during the break up of Yugoslavia in the 1990s” (BBC)

Both Lynne Featherstone and Evan Harris have previously pushed for the rules of royal succession to be changed to remove the precedence given to males over females. As Lynne has put it previously, the monarchy is about symbolism – so it should have the right symbolism. Now Nick Clegg is also on the case: “Mr Clegg, who is responsible for constitutional reform, told the BBC the issue …

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Stephen Tall

Evan and David: showing what liberalism is all about

By Stephen Tall | Thu 22nd January 2009 - 7:50 am

There are times it’s good to be a Liberal Democrat. Take, for example, last December’s Private Members’ Bills ballot for the 2008-09 Parliamentary session. Four Lib Dem MPs were drawn in the top 20, with David Heath and Evan Harris in the top five. David announced the subject of his bill last week: ending fuel poverty.

And yesterday, as widely trailed in the media, Evan announced what he would devote his bill to – reversing centuries of discrimination against Catholics and women under the Act of Settlement and other enactments. Here’s an excerpt from Evan’s press …

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