QUEEN ELIZABETH CONSIDERS MAJOR CHANGES IN MONARCHY.

Byline: Chicago Tribune 

Queen Elizabeth II is contemplating some of the most radical changes to the monarchy in 400 years.

The proposals under consideration are designed to restore the popularity of an institution that has been severely damaged by a succession of highly public marital disputes and the extravagant lifestyles of some members of the royal family.

The revolutionary changes being discussed include reducing the size of the royal family, abolishing taxpayer support for it, ending the rule that gives precedence to male offspring in the succession to the throne and permitting the monarch to marry a Roman Catholic.

On Monday, Buckingham Palace confirmed newspaper reports that reforms intended to take the monarchy into the 21st century were being weighed, but it declined to give details.

In recent years the 70-year-old queen has moved to answer some criticisms of the monarchy by agreeing to pay income tax and by reducing the number of royals on the public payroll to just three - herself; her husband, Prince Philip; and Queen Elizabeth, the queen mother.

But public esteem for the monarchy has continued to decline, according to polls, particularly after the divorce of Prince Charles and Princess Diana and the breakup of Prince Andrew and his wife, the former Sarah Ferguson.

The latest changes are being discussed by a committee the queen established, called the Way Ahead Group, which meets twice a year. Membership of the committee includes Philip, the couple's four children, senior members of the royal household and government advisers.

It appeared likely that the proposals for change were leaked to newspapers as a trial balloon, to see how the public would react.

Constitutional experts were divided over the proposals. One of the more controversial appeared to be the plan to allow the monarch to marry a Catholic, overturning a ban enacted in 1701.

Lord St. John of Fawsley said the ban should go, as it is an ``infringement of rights of members of the royal family.'' He said the Catholic Church no longer obliged parents in mixed marriages to bring up their children as Catholics, and this had eased the way to change.

But historian Lord Blake said such a change could cause a ``frightful row'' in Northern Ireland, where many Protestants are bitterly hostile to the Catholic Church.