Contemporary context: The Glorious Revolution
The Act of Settlement is still in force today and Catholics are still barred from taking the throne of the United Kingdom. However the Succession to the Crown Act 2013 changes the rules governing succession to the Crown in two ways. First, gender discrimination in determining succession is ended so that brothers no longer stand ahead of sisters in line to the throne even if they are younger. Second, a person marrying a Roman Catholic is no longer be barred from becoming or remaining monarch.
Act also removes a requirement for descendants of George II to seek permission to marry from the monarch, and replaces it with a broadly similar requirement for the first six people in the line of succession.
Page last updated August 2013