Saturday, November 24, 2007

New Zealand Gov. Gen. says Queen married in Roman Catholic church

There were red faces at New Zealand's Government House after an official news release suggested the Queen - head of the Church of England - married in a Roman Catholic church 60 years ago.

Britain's constitutional rules bar monarchs or their heirs from becoming members of the Roman Catholic church or marrying them.

The gaffe occurred when Gov. Gen. Anand Satyanand congratulated the Queen and Prince Philip on the occasion of their 60th wedding anniversary in a public statement Tuesday.

But the statement, which appeared on the Government House website and elsewhere, referred to the couple marrying in London's Westminster Cathedral - a Roman Catholic church.

The royal pair were in fact married in Westminister Abbey, which a corrected Government House statement quickly made clear when the gaffe was spotted.

The Cathedral Church of Westminster, as Westminster Cathedral is officially known, was first visited by the Queen during its centennial celebrations in 1995 - the first-ever visit by a British sovereign to a Roman Catholic liturgy.
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