Royal divorces may point to changing stance on divorce and monarchy

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The Anglican Church is the official church of Britain; the head of the British monarch is also the head of the world Anglican Communion. Before this happened, the British were Roman Catholics. King Henry VIII split Britain from the Roman Catholic Church in 1534, because the pope declined to annul his marriage to Catharine of Aragon. He formed the Church of England and divorced his wife.

Ironically, even with that history, divorce was not allowed until the recent past when it has come to be allowed but not encouraged. The Prince of Wales, Edward VIII, reigned only for a few months in 1936 as a bachelor. He abdicated the throne because his twice-divorced American bride could not be allowed to become queen.