Royal assent 3 August 1910 | ||
Long title An Act to alter the form of the Declaration required to be made by the Sovereign on Accession. Citation 10 Edw. 7 & 1 Geo. 5 c. 29 | ||
The Accession Declaration Act 1910 is an Act which was passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom to alter the declaration that the Sovereign is required to make at his or her accession to the throne as first required by the Bill of Rights of 1689. In it, he or she solemnly declares him or herself to be faithful to the Protestant faith. The altered declaration is as follows:
"I [here insert the name of the Sovereign] do solemnly and sincerely in the presence of God profess, testify, and declare that I am a faithful Protestant, and that I will, according to the true intent of the enactments which secure the Protestant succession to the Throne of my Realm, uphold and maintain the said enactments to the best of my powers according to law."
This declaration differs from the original one in that it places emphasis on the sovereign as being a Protestant, whereas the previous wording placed emphasis on denunciation of Roman Catholicism. The declaration is usually made either at the opening of the first parliament of the new monarch's reign (i.e. during the State Opening of Parliament) or, as in the case of King George VI, at his coronation.
Background
The Bill of Rights of 1689 required, among other things, that any monarch succeeding to the throne take the declaration as laid out by the Test Act of 1678. The form of the declaration was:
I, A. B., by the grace of God King (or Queen) of England, Scotland and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, do solemnly and sincerely in the presence of God, profess, testify, and declare, that I do believe that in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper there is not any Transubstantiation of the elements of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ at or after the consecration thereof by any person whatsoever: and that the invocation or adoration of the Virgin Mary or any other Saint, and the Sacrifice of the Mass, as they are now used in the Church of Rome, are superstitious and idolatrous. And I do solemnly in the presence of God profess, testify, and declare that I do make this declaration, and every part thereof, in the plain and ordinary sense of the words read unto me, as they are commonly understood by English Protestants, without any such dispensation from any person or authority or person whatsoever, or without thinking that I am or can be acquitted before God or man, or absolved of this declaration or any part thereof, although the Pope, or any other person or persons, or power whatsoever, should dispense with or annul the same or declare that it was null and void from the beginning".
The declaration, in that form, was taken by every English and British monarch from William and Mary in 1689 to Edward VII in 1901. The declaration was originally required by the Test Acts to be taken by all members of either house of Parliament, and all civil and military officers. Following Catholic Emancipation, the monarch was the only individual required to take the oath by law. When he succeeded, King Edward VII was unhappy at the wording and wished to have it changed before the next succession. When he died in 1910, his successor, George V, made it known that he would refuse to open parliament as long as he was obliged to make the declaration in its current form. Prime Minister H. H. Asquith was in agreement with the king, and the Act was passed through the then-sitting parliament before the new king was required to open the new parliament.