Is there any estimate on when the British parliament will pass the new bill on gender equality (I know it's retroactive, so that's cool), or any estimate about how long it will take to get through all the other nations?
There isn't really a set timetable as of now. Only three countries -
Canada, Australia and
New Zealand - have announced approximate time when the changes are to be ratified: some time in
2013.
A rather complex coordinated work should be done in all of the realms so that the changes are ratified (by whatever means that particular realms requires a ratification) at about the same time, to avoid any surprises. As far as Britain goes, the process is fairly straightforward and shouldn't take long at all - weeks or even days. However, some other countries of the Realm will require much more complex ratification processes that can take months. For instance, section 41 of the Canadian Constitution required unanimous consent of all the provinces and the federal parliament to ratify any changes to the office of the Monarch.
As per prior agreement, the United Kingdom will be the first to draft legislation, which will only be introduced once all the other Realms fully agree to all the terms of the bill. The process of adopting the legislation will start only once the other Realms plan the ratification processes, so that everything is in sync. On December 2 of the this year, the British Government received final consent from the other Commonwealth Realms. Two days ago, on December 13, the British Government finally introduced the
Succession to the Crown Bill and it was announced that the House of Commons will address it as soon as parliamentary time allows, which should be in
early 2013.
I should also add that two of the realms -
Papua New Guinea and
Tuvalu - do not need to approve the changes at all, so only 14 of the 16 realms will go through some sort of a ratification process.
What happens if it simply doesn't get approved by the other nations?
All the leaders of the Commonwealth Realms have already voiced their support for the proposed changes. However, should one of them refuse or be unable to ratify them, then it is likely one of the following will happen:
- The proposed changes will be dropped in all of the Realms altogether and Male Primogeniture along with ban to marry Catholics will remain in force.
- The other Realms will go ahead with ratification, creating a rather unfortunate situation. Should one day the first-born child of the Heir Apparent (say, Prince William) be a girl, then she will be Heiress Apparent in those Realms that approved the changes, but only an Heiress Presumptive in the realm that did not. That would mean that should the girl have a younger brother, he will become an Heir Apparent in that one realm, thus effectively
ending the Union of Crowns of the Commonwealth Realms. When they say all Commonwealth Realms have to unanimously adopt the changes, they just mean that otherwise the consequences will be so unfortunate that, should a unanimous consent not be acquired, the proposed changes will be dropped altogether.
Is there a thread with more history of letters patent and how they used to work? Queen Elizabeth can't simply issue letters patent and have parliament ratify them, right?
There is a thread that deals with general prerogatives of the Monarch -
Political Advisers and the Powers and Prerogatives of the Monarch .
Letters Patent are one of the prerogatives of the Sovereign that
do not require the consent of the Parliament. In most cases, however, the Monarch will usually consult the Prime Minister before issuing them.
Letters Patent greatly vary; there are currently over
90 types of Letters Patent, ranging from the ones used to grant Royal Assent to legislations and granting a coat of arms, to the ones that create Peerage titles or government offices. Consequently, how an individual Letters Patent works depends on what it is for.