ROYAL MARRIAGES ACT
Royal Marriages Act.A 1772 statute (12 Geo. 3, ch. 1) forbidding members of the royal
family from marrying without the sovereign’s permission, except on certain conditions.
“Royal Marriages Act …. An Act occasioned by George III’s fear of the effect on the dignity
and honour of the royal family of members thereof contracting unsuitable marriages, two of his
brothers having done so …. It provided that marriages of descendants of George II, other than the
issue of princesses who marry into foreign families, should not be valid unless they had the
consent of the King in Council, or, if the parties were aged over 25, they had given 12 months’
notice to the Privy Council, unless during that time both Houses of Parliament expressly declare
disapproval of the proposed marriage.” David M. Walker, The Oxford Companion to Law 1091
(1980). [Blacks Law 8th]