Sophia Naturalization Act 1705
- Sophia Naturalization Act 1705
The Act for the Naturalization of the Most Excellent Princess Sophia, Electress and Duchess Dowager of Hanover, and the Issue of her Body was an Act of the Parliament of England (4 & 5 Ann. c. 16.) in 1705. It followed from the Act of Settlement 1701 whereby the descendants of the Electress Sophia of Hanover and heirs, were declared to be in the line of succession to the throne (her son George I later became king).
However, Sophia was not considered to be an Englishwoman as she had not been born in England. This Act naturalised her and "the issue of her body" as English subjects. Naturalisation was restricted to those of the Protestant faith. However any person born to a descendant of Sophia could also claim to be the "issue of her body".
This was first tested soon after World War II, when Ernest Augustus IV, Prince of Hanover (1914–1987, father of the current Ernst August of Hanover) successfully claimed British nationality on this basis [Attorney-General -v- HRH Prince Ernest Augustus of Hanover [1957] 1 All ER 49] after considerable litigation.
The Act was repealed by the British Nationality Act 1948. However, any Protestant descendant of the Electress who had already been born when the repealing statute was enacted had already automatically acquired the status of a British subject, and so there are still people alive today who can claim British nationality under the Sophia Naturalisation Act. That was the case of Ernest Augustus himself, who was only recognized by the Courts as a British subject in 1957, years after the repeal of the Sophia Naturalisation Act. However, the Courts recognized that, as he was born and was a Protestant when the Act was still in force, by that fact he had already acquired citizenship, so that the repeal of the statute didn't affect his situation.
On those grounds, some descendants of Sophia, born before the repeal statute was enacted, can still lay claim to be a British national.
ee also
*History of British nationality law
References
External links
* [http://www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/documents/nisec2gensec/hanover(electresssophiaof)?view=Binary Sophia Naturalization Act] Dead link|date=August 2008
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