This hasn't come up as an issue for several centuries, but in the early 2000s it did threaten to halt the marriage of a distant Royal, who was only able to avoid it by having his wife convert to Anglicism. You can thank Henry VIII for this bizarre rule, which was helped along the way by one of his successors, William III.
It was Henry VIII who denounced Catholicism, created the Church of England and appointed himself as its head; all because he wanted to get divorced. Feelings between Protestants and Catholics suffered for a long time after that, and as a sick and dying William III lay in his bed he feared that his Catholic rival, James II of Scotland, would return to the throne he was exiled from. In spite, he passed a law declaring no Catholic may sit on the throne, and no Catholic may enter the family by way of marriage. Somehow, it took until 2011 to have the law struck out.
To insure one’s house, one’s car or to underwrite a life insurance policy, that is common practice. But who would pay an insurance premium for his/her thumb, legs or smile? Stars, of course.
At the top of the ranking are the legs of Mariah Carey, worth 810 million USD: The diva became, in 2006, the Gillette brand muse for the advertising campaign «Legs of a Goddess». She then took out an insurance policy with London Lloyds to protect her legs, a decision that is far from being insignificant. Among its customers, the London insurer then included several icons of music, such as Bob Dylan or Rod Stewart.
David Beckham’s body insured for 195 million USD: European champion with Manchester United in 1999, David Beckham was in 2006 the most renowned footballer of the planet. In relation to his sporting activities, he took out an insurance cover for his legs. The huge amount paid for his insurance would reportedly exceed the 103 million USD disbursed by Real Madrid for the cover of Christiano Ronaldo in 2009. The fashion model would later extend his insurance cover to his entire body.
15 million USD in insurance for Kim Kardashian’s curves: The curves of Kim Kardashian are her number one beauty asset. The reality TV star, who is crazy about plastic surgery, has underwritten an insurance policy worth 15 million USD to protect her famous butt.
The culinary critic Egon Ronay assured his taste buds: The famous Hungarian culinary critic has insured his taste buds since 1957, for the amount of 400 000 USD. An original insurance policy which allows him to cover his sense of taste without which he will no longer be able to practice his job.