47-499: The Royal Marriages Act 1772 ( 12 Geo. 3 . c. 11) was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain which prescribed the conditions under which members of the British royal family could contract a valid marriage , in order to guard against marriages that could diminish the status of the royal house. The right of veto vested in the sovereign by this Act provoked severe adverse criticism at
94-572: A "dynast" is a family member who would have had succession rights, were the monarchy's rules still in force. For example, after the 1914 assassinations of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his morganatic wife, their son Maximilian, Duke of Hohenberg , was bypassed for the Austro-Hungarian throne because he was not a Habsburg dynast. Even after the abolition of the Austrian monarchy, Duke Maximilian and his descendants have not been considered
141-573: A clause of the English Act of Settlement 1701 remained in effect at that time, stipulating that dynasts who marry Roman Catholics are considered "dead" for the purpose of succession to the British throne. That exclusion, too, ceased to apply on 26 March 2015, with retroactive effect for those who had been dynasts before triggering it by marriage to a Roman Catholic. A "dynastic marriage" is one that complies with monarchical house law restrictions, so that
188-483: A daughter of Queen Victoria , to Grand Duke Louis IV of Hesse , through their great-grandson Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh . This so-called "Farran exemption" met with wide publicity, but arguments against it were put forward by Clive Parry, Fellow of Downing College, Cambridge, and Farran's interpretation has since been ignored. Consent to marriages in the royal family (including the distantly related House of Hanover ) continued to be sought and granted as if none of
235-485: A family with influence and power in other areas, such as a series of successive owners of a major company, or any family with a legacy, such as a dynasty of poets or actors. It is also extended to unrelated people, such as major poets of the same school or various rosters of a single sports team. The dynastic family or lineage may be known as a "noble house", which may be styled as " imperial ", " royal ", " princely ", " ducal ", " comital " or " baronial ", depending upon
282-460: A female. Dynastic politics has declined over time, owing to a decline in monarchy as a form of government, a rise in democracy, and a reduction within democracies of elected members from dynastic families. The word "dynasty" (from the Greek : δυναστεία , dynasteía "power", "lordship", from dynástes "ruler") is sometimes used informally for people who are not rulers but are, for example, members of
329-555: A female. For instance, the House of Windsor is maintained through the children of Queen Elizabeth II , as it did with the monarchy of the Netherlands , whose dynasty remained the House of Orange-Nassau through three successive queens regnant . The earliest such example among major European monarchies was in the Russian Empire in the 18th century, where the name of the House of Romanov
376-510: A foreign family, the exemption for the latter reads as if it trumps the former. Many of George II's descendants in female lines have married back into the British royal family. In particular, Queen Elizabeth II and other members of the House of Windsor descend through Queen Alexandra from two daughters of King George II, Princesses Mary and Louise , who married foreign rulers, respectively Landgrave Frederick II of Hesse-Kassel and King Frederick V of Denmark , and through Queen Mary from
423-417: A framework of successive dynasties. As such, the term "dynasty" may be used to delimit the era during which a family reigned, and also to describe events, trends and artifacts of that period (e.g., "a Ming dynasty vase"). Until the 19th century, it was taken for granted that a legitimate function of a monarch was to aggrandize his dynasty: that is, to expand the wealth and power of his family members. Before
470-625: A framework of successive dynasties. As such, the term "dynasty" may be used to delimit the era during which a family reigned. Before the 18th century, most dynasties throughout the world have traditionally been reckoned patrilineally , such as those that follow the Frankish Salic law . In polities where it was permitted, succession through a daughter usually established a new dynasty in her husband's family name. This has changed in all of Europe's remaining monarchies, where succession law and conventions have maintained dynastic names de jure through
517-532: A nephew of Queen Elizabeth II , is in the line of succession to the British crown , making him a British dynast. On the other hand, since he is not a patrilineal member of the British royal family, he is therefore not a dynast of the House of Windsor. Comparatively, the German aristocrat Prince Ernst August of Hanover , a male-line descendant of King George III , possesses no legal British name, titles or styles (although he
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#1732837104158564-411: A requirement for the first six people in the line of succession to obtain the sovereign's consent before marrying in order to remain eligible. Article 3(5) of the new Act also provides that, except for succession purposes, any marriage that would have been void under the original Act "is to be treated as never having been void" if it did not involve any of the first six people in the line of succession at
611-424: A third, Princess Anne , who married Prince William IV of Orange . Queen Mary herself was a product of such a marriage; her parents were Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge , a granddaughter of George III and Francis, Duke of Teck , a minor German prince of the House of Württemberg . Moreover, King Charles III , his issue, siblings, and their issue descend from yet another such marriage, that of Princess Alice ,
658-603: Is entitled to reclaim the former royal dukedom of Cumberland ). He was born in the line of succession to the British throne and was bound by Britain's Royal Marriages Act 1772 until it was repealed when the Succession to the Crown Act 2013 took effect on 26 March 2015. Thus, he requested and obtained formal permission from Queen Elizabeth II to marry the Roman Catholic Princess Caroline of Monaco in 1999. Yet,
705-561: The Privy Council of an intention so to marry, unless both houses of Parliament expressly declared their disapproval. There was, however, no instance in which the sovereign's consent in Council was formally refused, though there was one where it was sought but the request ignored and others where it was not sought because it was likely to be refused. The Act further made it a crime to perform or participate in an illegal marriage of any member of
752-473: The line of succession to be granted by the monarch in right of the United Kingdom. The Regency Act 1830 , which provided for a regency in the event that Queen Victoria inherited the throne before she was eighteen, made it illegal for her to marry without the regent's consent. Her spouse and anyone involved in arranging or conducting the marriage without such consent would be guilty of high treason . This
799-522: The list of acts of the Parliament of England and the list of acts of the Parliament of Scotland . See also the list of acts of the Parliament of Ireland . For acts passed from 1801 onwards, see the list of acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom . For acts of the devolved parliaments and assemblies in the United Kingdom, see the list of acts of the Scottish Parliament , the list of acts of
846-705: The order of succession to the Dutch throne , and consequently lost his title as a "Prince of the Netherlands", and left his children without dynastic rights. Empress Maria Theresa of the Habsburg dynasty had her children married into various European dynasties. Habsburg marriage policy amongst European dynasties led to the Pax Austriaca . Historians periodize the histories of many states and civilizations , such as Ancient Iran (3200–539 BC), Ancient Egypt (3100–30 BC) and Ancient and Imperial China (2070 BC – AD 1912), using
893-433: The 18th century, most dynasties throughout the world have traditionally been reckoned patrilineally , such as those that follow the Frankish Salic law . In polities where it was permitted, succession through a daughter usually established a new dynasty in her husband's family name. This has changed in all of Europe's remaining monarchies, where succession law and conventions have maintained dynastic names de jure through
940-436: The 67th act passed during the session that started in the 39th year of the reign of George III and which finished in the 40th year of that reign. Note that the modern convention is to use Arabic numerals in citations (thus "41 Geo. 3" rather than "41 Geo. III"). Acts of the last session of the Parliament of Great Britain and the first session of the Parliament of the United Kingdom are both cited as "41 Geo. 3". Acts passed by
987-614: The Act be limited to the first six people in line to the throne. The leaders approved the proposed change at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting held in Perth , Western Australia. The legislation in a number of Commonwealth realms repeals the Royal Marriages Act 1772 in its entirety. It was, in the United Kingdom, replaced by the Succession to the Crown Act 2013 , which stipulates
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#17328371041581034-419: The Act could no longer apply to anyone living, because all the members of the immediate royal family were descended from British princesses who had married into foreign families. The loophole is due to the Act's wording, whereby if a person is, through one line, a descendant of George II subject to the Act's restriction, but is also , separately through another line, a descendant of a British princess married into
1081-550: The Northern Ireland Assembly , and the list of acts and measures of Senedd Cymru ; see also the list of acts of the Parliament of Northern Ireland . The number shown after each act's title is its chapter number. Acts are cited using this number, preceded by the year(s) of the reign during which the relevant parliamentary session was held; thus the Union with Ireland Act 1800 is cited as "39 & 40 Geo. 3. c. 67", meaning
1128-518: The Parliament of Great Britain did not have a short title ; however, some of these acts have subsequently been given a short title by acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (such as the Short Titles Act 1896 ). Before the Acts of Parliament (Commencement) Act 1793 came into force on 8 April 1793, acts passed by the Parliament of Great Britain were deemed to have come into effect on the first day of
1175-580: The agnatic descendants of George II were also his cognatic descendants. Parry argued that the "Farran exemption" theory was complicated by the fact that all the Protestant descendants of the Electress Sophia of Hanover , ancestress of the United Kingdom's monarchs since 1714, had been entitled to British citizenship under the Sophia Naturalization Act 1705 (if born prior to 1949, when the act
1222-505: The chief or present title borne by its members, but it is more often referred by adding the name afterwards, as in " House of Habsburg ". A ruler from a dynasty is sometimes referred to as a "dynast", but this term is also used to describe any member of a reigning family who retains a right to succeed to a throne . For example, King Edward VIII ceased to be a dynast of the House of Windsor following his abdication. In historical and monarchist references to formerly reigning families,
1269-462: The consent of the reigning monarch , "signified under the great seal and declared in council". That consent was to be set out in the licence and in the register of the marriage, and entered in the books of the Privy Council . Any marriage contracted without the consent of the monarch was to be null and void. However, any member of the royal family over the age of 25 who had been refused the sovereign's consent could marry one year after giving notice to
1316-527: The descendants are eligible to inherit the throne or other royal privileges. For example, the marriage of King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands to Máxima Zorreguieta in 2002 was dynastic, making their eldest child, Princess Catharina-Amalia , the heir apparent to the Crown of the Netherlands. The marriage of his younger brother, Prince Friso of Orange-Nassau , in 2003 lacked government support and parliamentary approval. Thus, Prince Friso forfeited his place in
1363-454: The divorcée, Wallis Simpson . The wording of the statute also excluded any issue of the marriage both from being subject to the Act, and from the succession to the throne; no marriages or succession rights were ultimately affected by this language, as the Duke and Duchess of Windsor had no children. In October 2011 David Cameron wrote to the leaders of the other Commonwealth realms proposing that
1410-477: The elected positions of republics and constitutional monarchies . Eminence, influence , tradition , genetics , and nepotism may contribute to the phenomenon. Hereditary dictatorships are personalist dictatorships in which political power stays within a strongman's family due to the overwhelming authority of the strongman, rather than by the democratic consent of the people. The strongman typically fills government positions with their relatives. They may groom
1457-574: The following dates. Not all consents were there and gaps in the list have been filled by reference to the Warrants for Royal Marriages in the Home Office papers (series HO 124) in The National Archives: 12 Geo. 3 Interregnum (1642–1660) Rescinded (1639–1651) This is a complete list of acts of the Parliament of Great Britain for the year 1772 . For acts passed until 1707, see
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1504-475: The king learned that another brother, Prince William Henry, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh , had in 1766 secretly married Maria , the illegitimate daughter of Sir Edward Walpole and the widow of the 2nd Earl Waldegrave . Both alliances were considered highly unsuitable by the king, who "saw himself as having been forced to marry for purely dynastic reasons". The Act rendered void any marriage wherever contracted or solemnised in contravention of it. A member of
1551-474: The line of succession. Dynasties lasting at least 250 years include the following. Legendary lineages that cannot be historically confirmed are not included. There are 43 sovereign states with a monarch as head of state , of which 41 are ruled by dynasties. There are currently 26 sovereign dynasties. Though in elected governments , rule does not pass automatically by inheritance, political power often accrues to generations of related individuals in
1598-478: The monarch for members of the reigning dynasty to marry. But Britain's was unusual because it was never modified between its original enactment and its repeal 243 years later, so that its ambit grew rather wide, affecting not only the British royal family, but more distant relatives of the monarch. In the 1950s, Charles d'Olivier Farran, Lecturer in Constitutional Law at Liverpool University, theorised that
1645-501: The present royal family of Norway was bound by the Act, for the marriage of Princess Maud , a daughter of King Edward VII , to the future King Haakon VII of Norway , was a marriage to a "British subject", since Haakon descended from the Electress Sophia. In 1936 the statute His Majesty's Declaration of Abdication Act 1936 specifically excluded Edward VIII from the provisions of this Act upon his abdication, allowing him to marry
1692-409: The rightful pretenders by Austrian monarchists, nor have they claimed that position. The term "dynast" is sometimes used only to refer to agnatic descendants of a realm's monarchs, and sometimes to include those who hold succession rights through cognatic royal descent. The term can therefore describe overlapping but distinct sets of people. For example, David Armstrong-Jones, 2nd Earl of Snowdon ,
1739-497: The royal family who contracted a marriage that violated the Act did not thereby lose his or her place in the line of succession, but the offspring of such a union were made illegitimate by the voiding of the marriage and thus lost any right to succeed. The Act applied to Catholics , even though they are ineligible to succeed to the throne. It did not apply to descendants of Sophia of Hanover who are not also descendants of George II, even though they are still eligible to succeed to
1786-486: The royal family. This provision was repealed by the Criminal Law Act 1967 . The Act was proposed by George III as a direct result of the marriage in 1771 of his brother, Prince Henry, Duke of Cumberland and Strathearn , to the commoner Anne Horton , widow of Christopher Horton and daughter of the first Lord Irnham , MP. Royal assent was given to the Act on 1 April 1772, and it was only on 13 September following that
1833-450: The session in which they were passed. Because of this, the years given in the list below may in fact be the year before a particular act was passed. The fifth session of the 13th Parliament of Great Britain , which met from 21 January 1772 until 9 June 1772. This session was also traditionally cited as 12 G. 3 . The sixth session of the 13th Parliament of Great Britain , which met from 26 November 1772 until 1 July 1773. This session
1880-665: The throne. It had been claimed that the marriage of Prince Augustus had been legal in Ireland and Hanover, but the Committee of Privileges of the House of Lords ruled (in the Sussex Peerage Case, 9 July 1844) that the Act incapacitated the descendants of George II from contracting a legal marriage without the consent of the Crown, either within the British dominions or elsewhere. All European monarchies , and many non-European realms , have laws or traditions requiring prior approval of
1927-507: The time of its passage. It was repealed as a result of the 2011 Perth Agreement , which came into force on 26 March 2015. Under the Succession to the Crown Act 2013 , the first six people in the line of succession need permission to marry if they and their descendants are to remain in the line of succession. The Act said that no descendant of King George II , male or female, other than the issue of princesses who had married or might thereafter marry "into foreign families", could marry without
Royal Marriages Act 1772 - Misplaced Pages Continue
1974-411: The time of the marriage; royal consent was never sought or denied; "in all the circumstances it was reasonable for the person concerned not to have been aware at the time of the marriage that the Act applied to it"; and no one has acted on the basis that the marriage is void. New Zealand's Royal Succession Act 2013 repealed the Royal Marriages Act and provided for royal consent for the first six people in
2021-506: Was also traditionally cited as 13 G. 3 . Dynasty A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics . A dynasty may also be referred to as a " house ", " family " or " clan ", among others. Historians periodize the histories of many states and civilizations , such as Ancient Iran (3200–539 BC), Ancient Egypt (3100–30 BC), and Ancient and Imperial China (2070 BC – AD 1912), using
2068-462: Was due to disagreements over how to choose a non German house. In Limpopo Province of South Africa , Balobedu determined descent matrilineally , while rulers have at other times adopted the name of their mother's dynasty when coming into her inheritance. Less frequently, a monarchy has alternated or been rotated, in a multi-dynastic (or polydynastic) system—that is, the most senior living members of parallel dynasties, at any point in time, constitute
2115-455: Was maintained through Grand Duchess Anna Petrovna . This also happened in the case of Queen Maria II of Portugal , who married Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha-Koháry , but whose descendants remained members of the House of Braganza , per Portuguese law; in fact, since the 1800s, the only female monarch in Europe who had children belonging to a different house was Queen Victoria and that
2162-603: Was more serious than the offence created by the Act of 1772, which was equivalent to praemunire . However, the Act never came into force, as Victoria had already turned 18 a few weeks before becoming queen. Consents under the Act were entered in the Books of the Privy Council but have not been published. In 1857 it became customary to publish them in the London Gazette and notices appear of consents given in Council at Courts held on
2209-507: Was repealed). Thus, some marriages of British princesses to continental monarchs and princes were not, in law, marriages to foreigners. For example, the 1947 marriage of Princess Elizabeth to Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh , by birth a Greek and Danish prince but descended from the Electress Sophia, was a marriage to a British subject even if he had not been previously naturalised in Britain. This would also mean theoretically, for example, that
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