The 16 nations for which Queen Elizabeth II is nominally sovereign have voted one for the ladies. "Centuries of British royal discrimination came to an end Friday after Commonwealth leaders agreed to drop rules that give sons precedence as heir to the throne and bar anyone in line for the crown from marrying a Roman Catholic," Reuters (along with the AP) reports. The royal rule change means that from now on, daughters won't be placed behind their younger brothers in the line of succession to the British throne and members of the royal family won't lose their spot in line if they marry a Catholic. The Guardian, in an editorial, wrote that the moves were a long time coming: "These are concessions so overdue that already they feel trivial." In any case, the official line from the British Prime Minster's office is one of praise. "The idea that a younger son should become monarch instead of an elder daughter simply because he is a man, or that a future monarch can marry someone of any faith except a Catholic — this way of thinking is at odds with the modern countries that we have become," David Cameron told the press at the Commonwealth conference in the Australian city of Perth. Also at odds with the modern countries they have become? Monarchies.

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