This past Friday, under the guidance of Queen Elizabeth II, those rules have changed. Under the new law, if a female child is first born to either the current monarch, or the heir to the throne, that child will claim the rights of
inheritance. The changes to the law does not affect the current state of the Monarchy as Queen Elizabeth's oldest child is Prince Charles, and Prince Charles' children are both male. However if Prince William and the Duchess of
Cambridge Kate Middleton's first child is a girl, she will indeed be the heir to the British Crown.
In addition to the succession law change, the rule banning a member of the Royal Family from marrying a Catholic has also been revoked. This origin of this law dates to the 16th Century and King Henry VIII's break with the Roman Catholic Church.
Each Commonwealth Realm must approve the changes to the law before it is made official, but there does not
appear to be any opposition to the changes.
The Commonwealth Nations (of which Queen Elizabeth II is the ruling Monarch) include: Great Britain (England,
Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales), Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Grenada, Belize, St. Christopher and Nevis, St. Lucia, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Papua New Guinea.