DAVID Cameron will strike a deal today to reform the monarchy, which will let the eldest child of Prince William and his wife Kate inherit the throne – even if it’s a girl, the Daily Mail reported.
The Prime Minister will put an end to more than 300 years of history by thrashing out an agreement with Commonwealth leaders to end the rule that the first-born male inherits the throne ahead of any elder sisters.
The deal will also end the ban on members of the Royal Family who marry a Roman Catholic being able to succeed to the throne.
If the new rules had been in force in 1509 Margaret Tudor would have taken the throne instead of Henry VIII. That could have meant the Reformation would never have taken place and Elizabeth I would never have been Queen.
If the practice had been changed as recently as the last century, Britain could have had two Queen Victorias back to back. Princess Victoria, the Princess Royal would have acceded to the throne in 1901 instead of King Edward VII.
When she died just a few months later, her son Kaiser Wilhelm II would have ascended the throne – something which could have prevented the First World War.
The Queen of England now would have been the completely unknown Princess Marie Cecile of Prussia.
Cameron stepped in amid fears that there could be a constitutional crisis if William and Kate had a firstborn daughter and then a boy.
The deal will be agreed today at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Perth when the PM hosts a meeting of the Queen’s Realms – the 16 countries including the UK which share the Queen as their head of state.
Cameron said: ‘These rules are outdated and need to change. The idea that a younger son should become monarch instead of an elder daughter, simply because he is a man just isn’t acceptable any more. Nor does it make any sense that a potential monarch can marry someone of any faith other than Catholic. The thinking behind these rules is wrong. That’s why people have been talking about changing them for some time. We need to get on and do it.’
The removal of the barrier to Roman Catholics marrying the heir to the throne does not affect the position of the Anglican Church as the established Church. The Queen and future monarchs will be Anglicans and Supreme Governor of the Church of England.
The change will also do away with an ancient and unused rule that means all descendants of George II are supposed to require the consent of the monarch to marry.
The deal will take the form of a short communiqué signed by the Realms committing to ‘amending the rules on succession to their respective Crowns’ and making clear that they ‘wish unanimously to advise the Queen of their views to seek her agreement’.
In order to change the rules the Government will introduce legislation to change the 1701 Act of Settlement, the Bill of Rights 1688, the Coronation Oath Act 1688 and the Royal Marriages Act 1772.
Downing Street said changes would be drafted in such a way that any children of Prince William and his wife were included.