Buckingham Palace has just published a revised description of King Charles’ constitutional role.[1] Instead of being the ‘Defender of the Faith’, Charles now wants to be officially called ‘Defender of Faith’, to reflect the new religious diversity of ‘multicultural Britain’. He aspires, the statement informs his subjects, to “protect the space for Faith within the multi-faith nation.”

The deletion of the article “the” in His Majesty’s traditional role as the “Defender of the Faith” may be a minor linguistic change, but the implications for Christianity as the official religion in the United Kingdom is monumental. As stated by His Majesty on his official website (emphasis added),

I have always thought of Britain as a community of communities. That has led me to understand that the Sovereign has an additional duty – less formally recognised but to be no less diligently discharged. It is the duty to protect the diversity of our country, including by protecting the space for Faith itself and its practice through the religions, cultures, traditions and beliefs to which our hearts and minds direct us as individuals.[2]

King Charles III has desired this change to the Royal Title for years, arguing that the Crown should now recognise and celebrate the multi-faith aspect of the new multicultural British society, rather than emphasising only Christianity.[3] In 2005, for example, following the Muslim terrorist attacks in London which left 52 dead and hundreds more injured, the King wrote an article in the Daily Mirror exempting the Islamic religion from any responsibility:

Some may think this cause [of terrorism] is Islam. It is anything but. As I understand it, Islam preaches humanity, tolerance and a sense of community.[4]

And now the change of the Monarch’s role as the “Defender of Faith[s]” constitutes a radical departure from the 500-plus year tradition of the English King serving as the Defender of the Christian Faith. SkyNews Australia host James Morrow correctly argues that such change of Title “entirely undercuts centuries of English history, and it also undercuts the entire purpose of the monarch”.[5] And does it mean that the Monarch must now be the Defender of all Faiths regardless of their moral teachings and social implications?

Curiously, the religion of ‘Satanism and Devil Worship’ is currently on the rise in the United Kingdom, according to a recent census data carried out by ONS.[6] Does that ultimately mean King Charles might feel he has an obligation to defend Satanic practices as the country’s new Defender of all Faiths?  At a first glimpse this sort of question might appear to be no more than a little joke. However, the religious practice of Satanism has at least since 2004 been fully recognised by the British Royal Navy.[7] As reported, followers of the ‘Church of Satan’ who are serving the Royal Navy must faithfully abide to ‘Nine Satanic Statements’, which include “Satan represents all the so-called sins, as they al lead to physical, mental, or emotional gratification.”[8]

Consider, in this context, His Majesty’s Coronation Oath. At his Enthronement as the King of the United Kingdom and the British Commonwealth of Nations, Charles solemnly vowed to “maintain the Laws of God and the true profession of the Gospel”, and to “continue steadfastly as the Defender of Christ’s religion”. The Archbishop of Canterbury addressed the following question to him:

Will you to the utmost of your power maintain the Laws of God and the true profession of the Gospel? Will you to the utmost of your power maintain in the United Kingdom the Protestant Reformed Religion established by law? Will you maintain and preserve inviolably the settlement of the Church of England, and the doctrine, worship, discipline, and government thereof, as by law established in England? And will you preserve unto the Bishops and Clergy of England, and to the Churches there committed to their charge, all such rights and privileges as by law do or shall appertain to them or any of them?

Charles responded under a solemn oath: “All this I promise to do.” And again affirmed, “The things which I have here before promised, I will perform and keep. So help me God.”

Whatever one might think of these royal vows, it is simply impossible to understand the Coronation Ceremony without reference to Christianity; for the King’s oaths theoretically bind the present incumbent and compel him to steadfastly uphold the Christian Faith.

Read it all at Quadrant