Exeter Cathedral is preparing to welcome The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall for a thanksgiving service to celebrate the huge success of the Cathedral’s £8 million fundraising appeal.
Photo credits to Bauer Griffin
Both Prince Charles and The Duchess will arrive in Exeter on Tuesday 26, February and spend the afternoon in the Cathedral by meeting those who supported and contributed to The Third Millenium Campaign. During their visit they will be shown some of the Cathedral’s most precious ‘treasures’, such as the empty historic organ case, whose 4,000 pipes are currently being refurbished, thanks to the funds donated by the campaign supporters. The historic Exeter Book, a collection of Anglo Saxon poetry dating back to the 10th century, will also be on display for the royal visitors.
Their Royal Highnesses will later attend a thanksgiving service with fellow supporters of the Cathedral and its successful campaign. Unfortunately there is limited seating for the service, and members of the public will be allocated seats on a ‘first come first served’ basis. Full details of the service will be released on the Cathedral website on Monday 25th February.
Both the Prince and Duchess’s visits to Exeter are an often occurrence; Prince Charles last visited the Cathedral in 2009 in order to celebrate the half way stage and is also The Patron of the campaign, whilst the Duchess visited Exeter last July to view the ‘Majesty’ Flower Festival that was held during the Cathedral’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations.
The Dean of the Cathedral, the Very Rev Jonathan Draper, said he was pleased to welcome back Their Royal Highnesses to Exeter Cathedral:”They have both given us wonderful, loyal support and we are thrilled they are able to join us for our thanksgiving service.”
The changes to the Law of Succession: a question of equal rights and modernisation? Picture credits: sighofthehighway
Conor Byrne gives an overview of what the changes to the Law of Succession might mean for the future of the country.
Feminists, royalists, women and men all over the world surely celebrated the news that the British laws of succession, which have for centuries legislated that the son of a royal marriage, even when not the eldest child will inherit the throne, are to be changed, dramatised further by the news of the Duchess of Cambridge’s pregnancy. However, there are other issues involved. If the laws of succession are changed, the ban on the monarch being married to a Catholic will be removed, while traditionalists emphasise that this proposed change is no less than a travesty which unsettles accepted norms. So is it correct to suggest that changing the laws of succession is beneficial, in “modernising these out of date rules so that men and women in line to the throne have equal rights”, as Nick Clegg announced?
Women have always been able to inherit the throne, and have done a pretty good job once they’ve reached the pinnacle of monarchical glory, as shown in the cases of Elizabeth I and Victoria. Despite this, Clegg has been accused of rushing through the changes, in effect ‘opening a Royal Pandora’s Box’ which will only generate further conflict and controversy, perhaps leading to renewed and vigorous debates about whether we really need the monarchy anymore. Tory MP Nicholas Soames warned of the “unwanted, unintended consequences that often flow from tinkering with legislation of this type and could damage the crucial relationship between Church and state”.
Do the current laws reflect “old prejudices and old fears” as Clegg claims? Picture credits: Scott Campbell Photography
Clegg, however, adopting a feminist approach, has argued that primogeniture reflects male prejudice and beliefs about male superiority and should be overturned in order to bring the English monarchy into the twenty-first century. According to Clegg, “the current rules of succession belong to a bygone era. They reflect old prejudices and old fears”. Despite this, the possibility of removing the ban on allowing the monarch to marry a Catholic has provoked hostility, doubt and fear. Ian Paisley warned MPs that “we ought to be minimising points of potential crisis, not creating the certainty that there will be a crisis”. He further outlined the dangers of changing the laws on succession: “We will create a potential set of circumstances where a future heir will have to make a choice between faith and throne, and such a choice, to discard a closely held faith for position, I believe simply creates another simply unjust choice that a person will have to make”.
But it is true, as some, including Clegg, have pointed out, that removing the ban on the monarch marrying a Catholic has its positive aspects. Proponents of change have pointed out that no other religion is discriminated against, while the monarch’s choice of marriage partner is arguably not as fraught with controversy or political and religious significance as it was in the early modern period. But this proposed reform will surely threaten the English Church and jeopardise a successful policy which has remained in place for the last 300 years. Others, like Labour MP Paul Flynn, have actually pointed out that this proposed reform challenges the Catholic Church itself, since royals cannot be raised in the faith.
Whether or not the bill goes through will only be seen with time. However, whatever happens is likely to spark further controversy among politicians, policy-makers, activists, feminists, royalists and all those concerned with the British monarchy.
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