Posted by Jane (JanEl) on 2/5/2008, 0:52:07
209.174.180.152

I've been thinking of notable examples of this happening in European dynasties, where one partner joined the church of another -- for the sake of harmony and unity in the prospective family. Of course, one is not truly "converting", when simply changing Christian denominations (if it came to that, the Roman Catholic Church recognizes the validity of all baptisms -- as long as they are trinitarian, and performed with water. So an already baptized Christian who becomes a Catholic is simply regarded as "coming into full communion with the Church" -- and doesn't have to be rebaptized, unless there is insufficient proof that the first baptism even occurred at all. In that case, a conditional baptism is performed). Recently, of course, there is Miss Autumn Kelly -- raised a Catholic, but reported to be close to being received into the Church of England (one presumes to prevent her non-royal husband from forfeiting his remote 11th place in line to the British throne). As such, she is going in the opposite direction from that of some members of the Kent family -- who have abandoned Anglicanism for Catholicism, or married into the Catholic faith (and therefore forfeited their succession rights. The Duke, however, married an Anglican who converted more than 30 years after the wedding; so he remains in line to the throne). In Denmark, Countess Alexandra went from Anglican to Lutheran, in marrying her first husband -- Prince Joachim, who is engaged to remarry with a Catholic who apparently is also undergoing instructions in Lutheranism. His sister-in-law, Crown Princess Mary, was brought up as a Presbyterian -- but was obliged to join the Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church before marriage to Crown Prince Frederik. And the consort of Queen Margrethe II, Prince Hendrik, was brought up in Catholicism -- but converted to the Lutheran faith before marriage. In Sweden, I believe Princess Birgitta -- brought up as a Lutheran -- eventually converted to the Catholic faith (whether before or after her marriage to Prince Georg of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen). In the Netherlands, Princess Irene (brought up as a member of the Dutch Reformed Church) converted to Catholicism, in order to marry the Carlist pretender to the Spanish throne (Prince Charles-Hughes of Bourbon-Parma, from whom she has been divorced for a number of years). Her youngest sister, Princess Maria Christina, also became a Catholic -- whether before or marrying the Cuban commoner, Jorge Guillermo (those two also being divorced). In Spain, Queen Sofia (having been born Princess Sophie of Greece, and brought up in the Eastern Orthodox faith), became a Catholic shortly after her 1962 marriage to King Juan Carlos (then a prince in exile, his father being the pretender to the not yet restored throne). In Belgium, the late Queen Astrid -- brought up as a Lutheran (having been born a princess of Sweden) -- became a Catholic in 1930, four years after her marriage to the prospective King Leopold III. Are there other examples of changing Christian denominations, among members of reigning European royal dynasties within the last 100 years? Going further back in history, I'm sure there are plentiful more examples. Also, there have undoubtedly been cases of this happening in non-reigning houses as well.