Marriage Crisis of Charles III

In 1945, a constitutional crisis arose when Charles III,then a Prince of Wales proposed to marry the up-and-coming Jewish-American actress Lauren Bacall. Due to Bacall's commoner status and her religious faith, the proposal incurred a significant degree of controversy as it was extremely uncommon for a monarch of the United Kingdom to marry a commoner, let alone one of a non-Christian faith.

Despite the minority support from both King Edward VII and Queen Louise, a sizable amount of Parliament however opposed the measure, citing it as an "intrusion against national security and stability", in regards to the then ongoing insurgency in Mandatory Palestine, which had been perpetrated by Zionist militias seeking independence from the British. Initial attempts of a compromise which included a morganatic marriage, a divorce and later an alternative spouse were quickly shut down and refused by Charles himself. However under the new Labour government of Clement Attlee, support for the marriage decisively rose with Attlee's backing. Following an open declaration of support from the then Archbishop of Canterbury who argued that Charles's marriage does not contradict the teachings of the Church which specifically prohibited the King, as the Supreme Governor of the Church of England from marrying a divorcée in the case of their former spouses being alive, and the Royal Marriages Act 1772 which prohibited a member of the British royal family from marrying a Roman Catholic. A subsequent declaration by Charles himself which confirmed that all his descendants would be raised in the Anglican faith ultimately paved the approval for their marriage which occurred two years later.

Prelude

In 1938, Charles III,then a Prince of Wales had voluntarily chose to move to the United States following the rampant wave of Germanophobia which had arose from the previous First World War which saw the British and German empires pitted against each other, with both nations being largely connected to Charles himself whose mother was a German princess while his father was a British monarch. With a group of approximately 15 men including the prince himself, the royal entourage was able to enter the United States via Canada, all the while posing as a group of British middle-class men instead. Upon their arrival, the group promptly took residence in the state of New York where, with the appropriate amount of funds bequeathed to them were able to purchase a modestly-built estate in the Upstate New York region. At the same time, the prince chose to underwent a modestly successful acting career in Hollywood. While in the midst of doing so, Charles was introduced to a relatively young, nineteen-year-old actress Lauren Bacall. Prior and after to their first film together, the pair immediately fell in love and began developing an off-screen relationship which initially preceded in a secretive manner, though a number of members of the Metropolitan Police Special Branch had already been assigned following initial suspicions. Subsequent reports described the nature of Bacall and Charles's relationship as being "rather closeted, and exclusive from the general public". However, the pair did somewhat opened up to the public in 1944 when they briefly conversed with President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was seeking for a fourth term.