Commentary on Sections Section 2: Removal of disqualification arising from marriage to a Roman Catholic
17.Subsection (1) provides that a person will not be disqualified from succeeding to the Crown or from being the Sovereign due to their marriage to a Roman Catholic. The current prohibition dates from the Bill of Rights and the Act of Settlement at the end of the 17th and beginning of the 18th centuries. There is no comparable statutory provision about any other religion. The prohibition on the Sovereign being a Roman Catholic is not changed by the Act.
18.Subsection (2) provides that subsection (1) applies to marriages contracted both prior to this section being brought into force and after. This will mean that people in the present line of succession who lost their places in it because of their marriages to Roman Catholics will regain their places. However, this does not affect anyone with a realistic prospect of succeeding to the Throne.