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Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction
I do find it ridiculous that the Queen had to give her blessing for the marriage of her adult son, but technically, the Queen is religious head of the state as well as the ruling monarch. Not having an Anglican marriage is a big deal for a monarch apparently.
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It's a legal requirement for the current monarch to approve of any marriage that would impact the line of succession.
The law has been on the books since before the American Revolution:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Marriages_Act_1772
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The Act said that no descendant of King 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.
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This act was replaced in 2013 and the current law now only impacts the marriages of anyone who is 6th in the line to the throne or better at the time of the marriage. Prior to that, the Queen had to approve every marriage for anyone who was in the line of succession.
So far, Harry's marriage is the only one to have been approved under the new law.
The new act also got rid of the rule that required younger male heirs to supercede any older sisters in the order of succession, and marrying a Catholic is no longer disqualifying either.