The royal couple tied the knot 14 years ago

rince William and Kate Middleton had to obey an ancient royal law from Queen Elizabeth II before their marriage.

William, 43, and Kate, 43, tied the knot in 2011 at Westminster Abbey. They have since gone on to welcome three children.
William and Kate got married in 2011 (Credit: Tony Clark / SplashNews.com)

Ancient royal law William and Kate had to obey before their marriage

Back in November 2010, William, who was then 28 years old, and Kate, also 28, announced their engagement.

William had got down on one knee the previous month during the couple’s holiday in Kenya.

However, due to an ancient royal law, dating back to 1772, William had to ask the queen’s permission first.

The Royal Marriages Act 1772, which was an act of parliament in the UK, prescribed the conditions under which members of the royal family could contract a valid marriage.

This law was introduced in a bid to guard against marriages that could diminish the status of the royal house. The sovereign had the right to veto any marriage, something which attracted much criticism at the time.

The Act said that no descendant of King George II could marry without the consent of the reigning monarch. The rule didn’t apply to the issue of princesses who had married or might thereafter marry “into foreign families”.
The queen had to give William and Kate permission to marry (Credit: SplashNews.com)

Why did the law come into being?

The act was proposed by King George III as a direct result of the marriage of his brother, Prince Henry, Duke of Cumberland and Strathearn, to commoner, Anne Horton, in 1771.

The king later realised that another brother, Prince William Henry, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh, had married Maria, the illegitimate daughter of Sir Edward Walpole, in 1766.

Both alliances were considered highly unsuitable by the king, who saw himself as having had to marry for “dynastic reasons”.

Skip forward 238 years to 2010, and William and Kate still had to get the queen’s permission to tie the knot.

Despite announcing their engagement in 2010 and their wedding scheduled for April 2011, they weren’t officially granted permission to marry by the queen until February 2011 – two months before the big day.
Harry had to ask permission to marry Meghan under the new act (Credit: SplashNews.com)

Law change following William and Kate’s wedding

Following William and Kate’s wedding in 2011, the then-Prime Minister, David Cameron, wrote to the leaders of other Commonwealth realms proposing that 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, Australia.

In the UK, the act was replaced by the Succession to the Crown Act 2013. This act means that just the first six people in line to the throne need to get the sovereign’s permission to marry.

So far, only Prince Harry has had to ask for permission to marry under the Act. He married Meghan Markle in 2018.

When it’s time for Prince George to marry, he will need permission, as will Princess Charlotte, Prince Louis, and Prince Archie at present. However, if/when George has children, it will push his siblings and cousin further down the line of succession.