So, assuming William wanted his grandmother’s and father’s blessing before marrying . . .
If he had been dating a woman who was not white (so black, Asian, Indian, Middle Eastern, Latina, etc), so you guys think the Queen and/or his father would be cool with her becoming Queen eventually? Let’s assume she was, like Kate, from a fairly wealthy, proper family and moved in the right social circles.
It seems like there are some unspoken “rules” about who can marry an heir prince, and somehow I think race is among the rules. Moreso for the Queen than for Prince Charles, if only because the latter has already engaged in some unconventional marriage habits.
The problem with marrying an Irish Catholic - or any other sort of Catholic - is that he’d automatically lose his ability to inherit the throne. But there are millions of Anglican Nigerians who wouldn’t have presented that problem.
He wouldn’t have gotten the permission from the Queen. His grandfather is a known racist. I doubt she’d want to deal with his bs. Just as Charles didn’t get permission to marry Camilla because of how she would have looked.
I think that she’s the queen and he’s not, and he’ll do as he’s told. I also doubt Phillip has the personal influence on William that he had on Charles.
Whatever her religion, she’d be expected to convert to Protestantism – Phillip was Greek Orthodox before he married Elizabeth.
Question – can a Catholic inherit the throne IF he or she converts? After all, the Spanish royals are still in line for the throne, despite being Catholic. Or if one marries a Catholic WHO CONVERTS FIRST TO THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND? (I’m not talking about a Catholic who stays one, but someone who converts?)
His family aside, I assume that a substantial wedge of the British people would have found it unacceptable to have a future queen, and thus future heir, who “wasn’t British.”
There is a mechanism for bypassing the Queen’s consent. Any royal over the age of 25 can notify the Privy Council of their intentions in writting and if Parliament goes 12 months without objecting to the marriage it can go ahead regardless of what Her Majesty thinks of it. The Queen isn’t an idiot; if William went and did that it’d be the worst PR diaster for the monarchy since the Abdication. And if William was determined enought to do that he might just petion Parliament to remove him from the succesion (a constitutional crisis that would likely destroy the monarchy).
I agree - I think that Phillip’s irrelevance, although probably not the primary driver of his outrageous political incorrectness, is the fertile ground that nourishes it.
If his opinion mattered, this book would never have had any reason to exist.
With the caveats you’ve given - British, well-educated, middle-class, etc, then I think the royal family would have been fine with it, as long as she was also protestant or willing to convert. The religion bit is more reasonable than it sounds, since William will be King one day, hence head of the Anglican church.
The general populace would probably have been OK with it. There is racism here, so there would have been murmurs of discontent, and questions would have been asked about her citizenship, religion and political affilations that wouldn’t be thought of for a white woman. These would not have been insurmountable problems.
If he’d chosen a woman who wasn’t conventionally pretty, that would have created more problems than anything else.
But if she were born in Britain and at least one of her parents had lived here for a reasonably long time, only hardcore racists would have thought she wasn’t British.
This comes up so often from people I know aren’t avowed racists. Makes me wonder if they’d tell Jason Smith who lives down the road that he’s not British because one of his grandparents came from a different country. To be consistent, they should, but they’d actually think that was a terrible thing to do.
It appears that if you were ever a Catholic or married a Catholic, you are permanently excluded from the succession. At first glance, marrying a former Catholic wouldn’t exclude you, but I’m not sure about that.
They’re still a family, though. She is the queen, but she wouldn’t want to make her husband unhappy. This is a family issue. Not an issue of state. Think about it. This girl would have to spend the rest of her life surrounded by this people. I remember them saying this Christmas was the last Christmas she was allowed to spend with her family. Do you really think the queen would allow someone in who a prominent member of objected to? It’s not like a normal family where he could choose to never see them again.