Will Prince Charles abdicate when he becomes King?

Question

From what I understand, Camilla is a divorced women. I've always believed someone can't remain king if he marries a divorced women, very similar to why King Edward VIII abdicated. If this is true, will Charles be forced to abdicate like King Edward? I don't know much about the Royal Family or the laws involving them, so sorry if I seem very ignorant.

Answer 1

The reason Edward VIII abdicated was because:

(a) the Church of England ruled out a marriage with Wallis Simpson, as she had two living ex-husbands.

(b) the Dominions (as the Commonwealth was known then) would not accept Wallis as Queen (for the same reason).



The usual rule, even through Victoria's reign, was that royalty married other royalty. But this is not the case nowadays (unless the royals in question are German or Russian). All that is needed now is HM's consent (and that now is only for the top six people in the succession).



England never did have an "equal-marriage" rule; it was simply the custom. George V relaxed it after the Second War. The Duchesses of Gloucester and Kent were both commoners prior to marriage, for example.

Answer 2

The whole married woman thing was thought up as a convenient pretext to allow Edward VIII to abdicate due his sympathy for Nazi Germany and his lack of interest in reigning. A deal was struck to allow him a title, a grace and favour home and a promise not to return to Britain.



These circumstances would not apply to Prince Charles, so the establishment would decide that the divorcee thing no longer applied. Camilla is being socialised step by step, but the end goal is clear. Camilla will be the Queen regardless of what people might say now.

Answer 3

No, and there is no reason for him to. Times have changed.



Once upon a time, 80 years ago, the Church of England totally disapproved of divorce. Meanwhile, "the Establisment" was not happy with Edward VIII and even the late George V said "the boy will ruin himself within twelve months". Oh boy, was he right! Edward wasn't interested in the duties of being king, left secret papers lying around to the consternation of officials, and liked Hitler. Nor did "the Establishment" like what it saw as his gold-digging twice-divorced girlfriend, Wallis Simpson. So the likes of the Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin, and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Cosmo Lang, intrigued for months to get him to go.



They must have thought Christmas had come early when Edward made it clear that he wanted to marry Wallis. No way would it be right for the Supreme Governor of the Church of England to break its own rules by marrying a divorcee! There is no law about this, and there never has been, but it just "wouldn't be cricket". OK, the Church of England was basically started by Henry VIII so he could have a new wife, but ah, that was different - he was never divorced, he had marriages annulled, which isn't the same thing.



So at this point "the Establishment" could tell the newspapers and it could be a simple ultimatum. You can have the throne or you can marry Wallis, not both. To everyone's relief, Edward chose Wallis. There was also the little legal problem that according to the Marriage Act 1836, royals had to marry in church, and didn't have the option of a register office. So marrying Wallis and staying king was just impossible - they had to marry in church, and the Church wouldn't marry anyone who's already had a divorce.



Now wind on to 2005. The Church of England had changed its mind and will now remarry the divorced, and the Marriage Act 1836 was finally repealed in 1953. Of course Charles and Camilla checked up on all this before getting married to make sure Charles could still be king when the time comes. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, would have been perfectly happy to marry them in church, and the reason they didn't was the Queen, who is very traditionalist about divorce and wouldn't have come to the wedding. So Charles and Camilla did the traditional C of E thing, getting married in a register office and having a church service of blessing afterwards.

Answer 4

No, Prince Charles won't abdicate.

He has waited a long time to be King.

Answer 5

The is no law that says that the wife of the King cannot have been married before - be she divorced or widowed.



There is no comparison between Camilla's position and that of Wallis Simpson when Edward VIII wanted to marry her. He was forced to abdicate in order to be able to marry her because: (1) She was considered to be a social climber. (2) She already had TWO living ex-husbands. Edward VIII would have been her THIRD husband; and, considering her track record at discarding husbands, most people didn't expect their marriage to last. That was basically their problem.

Answer 6

No. There is very little similarity between the Duke and Duchess of Windsor's case and Charles' and Camilla's case. And, there are no laws that prevent a divorced person from being monarch. Henry VIII is quite famous for his divorces.



Times have changed, divorce is common. Charles had the permission to remarry and the union was blessed by the Church of England.



The history of Edward VIII is different. He chose as his companion a woman with a history of using husbands to climb the social ladder. Wallis Warfield Simpson was a TWO-TIMES divorced woman. With her history of divorces, she was not seen as being a faithful spouse for the king, eventually divorcing him.



Edward VIII was also a major problem. He was not fit to be king. He shirked performing many of his royal duties in order to vacation with Mrs. Simpson. He forged a friendship of sorts with Hitler... in short, he made many poor choices that were not good for the UK.



Charles his fit to be king. He, as the longest-serving Prince of Wales, has started many charitable concerns, foremost among them, the Prince's Trust, a foundation that helps young people aged 13 to 30 get into jobs, education and training.

Answer 7

Will Charles Be King

Answer 8

Whatever happened in past, Camilla is now his legitimate WIFE and I'm sure the consequences of him being allowed to marry her re his status as heir to the throne, would have been considered long before they got the approval from those giving such approval, and the marriage Blessed, before that happened. Not to say he might abdicate (although I doubt it), but he won't be forced to do so. This is now, and a rather different situation to Edward and Wallis.

Answer 9

What you believe about divorce is incorrect. Divorce is legal now, and Charles has done nothing wrong by being divorced, nor marrying a divorcee. His marital situation is no barrier to his being king at all.



Times were different when Edward VIII was king, and so where the laws.

Answer 10

Attitudes to divorce have changed over the last 80 years and remarriage is considered acceptable. The marriage of Charles and Camilla was sanctioned by parliament and blessed by the Church of England. There is therefore no reason (or likelihood) that he would abdicate.

Answer 11

peasant bloodlines,bastard creations,diviocee 3 times (Wallace Simpson),Auldtry affair while married ,then marrying to the auldtrier (Camilla Bowels and Wallace Simpson)....Unequal bloodline meaning no royal bloodline 100 generation to the parents .....All these can remove an hir from his birth title as Prince and rights of it....Thus William and Charles are not the future King to UK...King Assumption is HRH Prince Henry of Wales ,born Sept.15,1984 as decreed by Queen Elizabeth I I and HRH Prince Phillip of Uk....Charles doesn't need to abdicate unless his mother steps down or dies........Charles can be over look as he is and William,George and Charolette are.....

Answer 12

One can only hope that he will abdicate. He and his former mistress (now seond wife) are not respected by a huge swath of the British people. The lack of respect for Charles is because of how he so terribly botched his first marriage with the adultery he committed and because of his uncaring, callous attitude toward his first wife. Respect of the people is essential for a monarch.

Answer 13

No, he will not be forced to abdicate, the marriage was blessed by the church in 2005, there is no issue there, and it did not bother henry VIII did it, and he was married 6 times!

Answer 14

Not at all, dear boy. But, not to worry. You see, by the time He does get the Crown, I'll wager the dear boy will only have a few years left to live.



No doubt He will hang on as long as possible just to spite some members of this very Y!A Royalty category who have posted so many nasty things about Him, not to mention about His beloved wife, dear Camilla.



Let that be a lesson to those persons!

Answer 15

A lot of people think it would be nice of him, but he is the longest waiting heir in history. No one expects him to abdicate.

Answer 16

Hopefully that fool will die before he becomes king

Answer 17

NOT IF he doe or does not become king.

Answer 18

We live in hope..www.republic.org.uk