British Royal Family Ponders Reforms Of Monarchy End To State Subsidy, Equal Rights For Princesses Posed

Led by Queen Elizabeth II, the royal family is weighing reforms that would revolutionize and modernize the British monarchy, Buckingham Palace acknowledged Monday.

The proposals would abolish state subsidies to the royal family and offer equal rights for women to succeed to the throne. They would allow an heir to the throne to marry a Roman Catholic and end the sovereign’s current role as head of the official Church of England.

A spokeswoman at the palace Monday would not confirm specifics and said no changes were imminent. But she said the monarchy’s future was regularly discussed by the queen; her husband, Prince Philip; and her eldest son and heir, Prince Charles, with their advisers and government legal experts.

“Discussion of strategic issues and major topics for the future go on in this organization as in any organization,” the spokeswoman said. “One reason the monarchy has endured for 1,200 years is that it has been able to adapt to changing times.”

Recent divorce and adultery scandals have damaged the royal family’s image; a left-wing think tank last week called for the queen to be stripped of her role as head of the Commonwealth, and leftists were skeptical Monday of the bruited reforms.

“You can’t have a democracy where the head of state rules by inheritance, not by election,” said Tony Benn, a hard-line member of the opposition Labor Party.

Lord St. John of Fawsley, a constitutional expert, said the all-in-the-family discussions, described by the palace as ongoing, “might have been brought on by the family’s recent troubles.”

A financial reform being studied would abolish the Civil List, under which $14 million or so in public funds is paid annually to Elizabeth, Philip and the Queen Mother. Since 1992, the queen has paid about $2.5 million annually to eight other members of the royal family technically entitled to government funds.

Another reform would allow a first-born daughter to succeed to the throne, challenging the ancient law of primogeniture. At present, a monarch’s daughter becomes heir only if - like Elizabeth - she has no brother or if her brothers and all their descendants are dead. Any change, presumably, would become effective with the children of future King William, now entering his teens.

Taken together, the reforms, all of which would entail prolonged debate and parliamentary approval, would amount to the most radical structural changes in the monarchy in centuries, British analysts said Monday.

In reporting the possible changes, newspapers attributed the impetus for the royal discussions to Elizabeth. But reform is reportedly also strongly supported by her son, Charles, the future king.