The new head of the Church of Ireland has described the ban on any monarch becoming or marrying a Catholic as antiquated.
The primate elect's plea for the repeal of the 1701 Act of Settlement and the disestablishment of the Church of England revives a thorny constitutional controversy and sets him at odds with his Anglican colleagues over the water.
Bishop Alan Harper said his personal view was that the 18th century legislation "belongs to its time and we should move on".