The Spanish Royal Family celebrates Epiphany Day – pictures from Monsters and Critics.

New! Royalty and political controversy – a spicy mix. Watch RoyaltyNow! for the latest episode:

http://royaltynow.podcastpeople.com/posts/28805

(Update: The video did not upload all the way. It was truncated for some reason, so I re-uploaded it. It should work fine now.)

On ITN:

Catholics ‘could be’ Eligible For The Throne

Whoo, boy. I didn’t realize that Peter Phillips’ wedding would cause such a ruckus.

First, the Catholics have a fit because Autumn changed her religion from Catholic to Anglican (Church of England). Then there was the Hello! Magazine deal about their relationship and wedding.

A commercial deal in the royal family is looked upon with derision by many. Take the Countess of Wessex’s problems concerning her former PR firm several years ago. Some of the public began to wonder if she was cashing in on royal titles and connections. ITN states that this particular deal struck with Hello! will instead “damage any future claims to privacy” by Autumn and Peter.

That I can’t agree with, unfortunately. Even if they weren’t splashed across the pages of Hello!, they will still be viewed as glamorous, modern young royals and will be placed in the arena of publicity with Kate, Chelsy, Beatrice, etc. Peter has always been a private person, just as Princess Anne had planned, but nowadays I think that privacy is hard to find for anyone in a public family, especially when they have a beautiful royal wedding!

Princess Letizia of Spain’s sister recently discovered this the hard way: the publicity shy Telma Ortiz brought a restraining order against the media in an effort to retain her privacy. The courts felt differently, and ruled that since Telma Ortiz is the sister-in-law to the Spanish Crown Prince she is, by default, a public figure. The order was declined and the media will now, I’m sure, be on her like beans on toast while declaring a ‘freedom of the press’ victory.

Of course, we can’t forget about the religious issue concerning the wedding of Mr. and Mrs. Phillips. Father Raymond J. de Souza is outraged, saying that Autumn’s conversion to the Church of England was ‘cavalier’ and that she should be ashamed for stating that the C of E and Rome are pretty much “the same religion”. It does seem fairly unnecessary to me that she should convert, as Peter will never take the throne, but lesser royal figures have had to give up their place for marrying Catholic. Maybe Autumn felt guilty that she would be playing ‘politics’ – inadvertently – with the line of succession.

There have been many debates about rescinding the Act of Settlement barring Catholics from the throne. People say the Act goes against human rights, and they also ridicule it for barring Catholics but not, say, Scientologists. People also note that the Duchess of Kent, a senior royal, converted to Catholicism yet the Duke of Kent keeps his place in the line. How do you explain that?

I have to say that this Act is a bit out of date, but if it is repealed, what happens? Will Prince Michael regain his position in the line of succession, for instance? Would Autumn reconvert? Who knows… it’s all so interesting yet it could be potentially very chaotic. For now, however, the only chaos is the war of words in the media.

Paola de Frankopan with her betrothed Lord Nicholas Windsor.

It is expected to be the Royal Family’s first wedding at the Vatican for 400 years.

The Duke and Duchess of Kent are pleased to announce the engagement of their son Nicholas to Paola, daughter of Don Louis and Donna Ingrid Doimi de Frankopan of London”

– the Court Circular

Paola, 37, and Lord Nicholas, 36, met at a party in New York five years ago. He had recently converted to Roman Catholicism, forfeiting his place as 26th in line to the throne.

The couple’s shared faith led them to plan their wedding at St Peter’s Basilica in November. The Prince of Wales, the groom’s godfather, is expected to be among the aristocratic guests from all over Europe.

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