Regency Act 1830

Regency Act 1830
Long title An Act to provide for the Administration of the Government in case the Crown should descend to Her Royal Highness the Princess Alexandrina Victoria, Daughter of His late Royal Highness the Duke of Kent, being under the Age of Eighteen Years, and for the Care and Guardianship of Her Person.
Citation 1 Will.4 c. 2
Dates
Royal Assent 23 December 1830
Commencement Never in force
Status: Repealed

The Regency Act 1830 (1 Will.4 c.2) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed to cater for the event that King William IV died while the next person in line to the throne was not yet aged 18. It provided for a regency until the new monarch reached the age of 18, and also would have enabled a posthumous child of King William IV to replace Queen Victoria on the throne. However, the Act never came into force, because William was not survived by a legitimate child and Victoria became queen aged 18 in 1837.

Reason for the Act

When William IV became king in June 1830 he had no legitimate children who could inherit the throne on his death. Aged 64, he was the oldest person to ascend the British, English, Scottish or Irish thrones.[1] His next younger brother, Prince Edward, had died in 1820 and so the next person in line to the throne was Edward's 11-year-old daughter, Princess Victoria. Therefore it was necessary to pass a law to provide for the government of the United Kingdom in case Victoria became queen while still under age, or in case William had a child who ascended while under 18. Parliament also decided to change the law about what would happen if William's wife, Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen, gave birth to his child after he died and Victoria had already become queen.

Provisions of the Act

Summary

The Act stated that if Victoria became queen while still a minor, then her mother, the Duchess of Kent, would become regent until Victoria was 18. However if William had a legitimate son or daughter then that person would become king or queen instead of Victoria, and its mother, Queen Adelaide, would be regent. In either case, whoever was regent would exercise all the powers of the monarchy, except that the regent was prohibited from giving royal assent to a bill to change the line of succession to the throne, or a bill to repeal or alter the Act of Uniformity 1662 or the Protestant Religion and Presbyterian Church Act 1707.

If William was not survived by a legitimate child when he died, and Victoria became queen, but then afterwards Adelaide gave birth to William's child, the Act stipulated that William's child was to immediately and automatically become monarch, replacing Victoria. If this happened then Adelaide would become regent until the new monarch was 18.

Whoever was monarch was prohibited from marrying without the regent's permission until they were 18. Anyone who married the monarch without permission, or who assisted in the marriage, would be guilty of high treason.

If the regent married a Roman Catholic, married a foreigner without permission, or left the United Kingdom, then she would forfeit her office.

Detail

The Act consisted of 12 sections:

References

  1. ↑ Ashley, Mike (1999). The Mammoth Book of British Kings & Queens. London: Robinson. p. 3. ISBN 1-84119-096-9.
  2. ↑ 30 Car.2 stat.2 c.1: "An Act for the more effectual preserving the King's Person and Government, by disabling Papists from sitting in either House of Parliament." (1678))
  3. ↑ Treason Act 1814 (54 Geo. III c. 146)

See also

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