Woodward: Monarchy Is Discriminatory

A movement is under way in Britain to repeal the Act of Settlement, a 1701 law that bars Catholics from occupying the throne or standing in the line of succession. A companion movement will attempt to do away with agnatic primogeniture, the rule that gives preference to male heirs over female. Between them, these measures are seen as redressing the outrageous sexual and religious discrimination that has so long disfigured the English monarchy.

Seriously.

Let's set aside for the moment the fact that this entire matter is moot. No occupant of the British throne since 1688 has been the rightful monarch of England in the first place. The real king of England, as all right-thinking people know, is Franz Bonaventura Adalbert Maria Herzog von Bayern and -- in direct defiance of the Act of Settlement -- he is a Catholic! But we'll take that up another time.

No, what interests me about the news report linked above is the absurdly self-righteous tone in which supporters of this "reform" are talking about it. The supporters include both the current British prime minister, Gordon Brown; and (shame on him) the current Catholic primate of England, Cormac Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor, both of whom seem suddenly quite offended by the discriminatory nature of the British Crown. Don't they realize that, even if the current monarchical glass ceiling is shattered for Catholics and older royal sisters of younger royal brothers, far too much injustice will remain in this corrupt system? The throne will still be denied to anyone but a Briton, an instance of rank nativism. It will still be denied to anyone not connected by birth to the royal family -- class prejudice at its worst. And while homosexuals will enjoy full rights of succession (as they always have), it's very much doubtful that a transgendered person will ever have much of a chance. (So forget about improving your place in line by turning yourself from a first-born daughter into a first-born son.) As for any members of ethnic minorities who might harbor royal ambitions -- well, just remember what happened to the last Hispanic who claimed the British throne.

No, these piecemeal calls for equality are not enough. I for one will not be satisfied until any little American boy or girl can grow up to be "by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of His (or Her) other Realms and Territories King (or Queen), Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith."