Royal Marriages Act 1772

Royal Marriages Act 1772

Parliament of Great Britain
Long title	An Act for the better regulating the future Marriages of the Royal Family.
Citation	12 Geo 3 c. 11
Territorial extent	England and Wales; Scotland
Other legislation
Amended by	Criminal Law Act 1967
Status: Repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted
Text of the Royal Marriages Act 1772 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk

The Royal Marriages Act 1772 was an act of the Parliament of Great Britain, which prescribed the conditions under which members of the British Royal Family could contract a valid marriage, in order to guard against marriages that could diminish the status of the royal house. The right of veto vested in the sovereign by this act provoked severe adverse criticism at the time of its passage. It was repealed on 26 March 2015 as a result of the 2011 Perth Agreement. Its provisions were replaced by more limited restrictions that apply only to the first six people in the line of succession (currently Prince Charles, Prince William, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, Prince Harry, and Prince Andrew).

The Act said that no descendant of George II, male or female, other than the issue of princesses who had married or might thereafter marry "into foreign families", could marry without the consent of the reigning monarch, "signified under the great seal and declared in council". That consent was to be set out in the licence and in the register of the marriage, and entered in the books of the Privy Council. Any marriage contracted without the consent of the monarch was to be null and void.

However, any member of the Royal Family over the age of 25 who had been refused the sovereign's consent could marry one year after giving notice to the Privy Council of their intention to so marry, unless both houses of Parliament expressly declared their disapproval. There is, however, no instance in which the sovereign's formal consent in Council was refused.