I pray Prince William rethinks church move
Iam A fan of Prince William, who seems tobe what my grandmother would have described as “a fine young man”. I much respect the way he took a cautious approach to marriage, making sure that both he and Kate knew exactly what her royal life would entail and I think he has shown great dignity in coping with the bitter onslaught from Montecito, yet I have serious reservations about two of his actions this week.
First, he let it be known that he may be the first king in 500 years not also to be the supreme governor of the Church of England. In short, he would disestablish the church and there would be no sense whatever in having a religious coronation ceremony. Does he really want the responsibility of killing off the last claim this country has to be Christian? Without the link between church and crown there could be no possible reason for there to be compulsory religious education in schools, for example.
Nor would there be any reason for the big ceremonies of state to have any religious connotation. Even if you are the most profound atheist you must recognise that the culture of this country and its heritage remain indisputably Christian.
Already religious education in schools is in such drastic decline that children have no knowledge of scripture. Yet they are expected to understand biblical references in some of our greatest literature, for example Shakespeare and Milton. A-level students are expected to study renaissance art without a clue as to the stories being depicted. Others are expected to study medieval history without even the most basic knowledge of the Christian Church which dominated that era. Think again ,William. Next, we have had all the schmaltz over how “caring” William is for his children and how wonderful it is that he should have cancelled his public engagements. No, it is not. If Kate has something rather more serious than we’ve been led to believe then none of the following applies but otherwise I think that the Prince of Wales should consider how his father’s subjects are expected to cope with exactly the same situation but without a nanny, staff and grandparents on call.
Honestly, Sir, your children will not have nervous breakdowns just because you are not doing the school run.
Of course there are limits. It is quite right, though hardly big news, that a husband should visit his wife in hospital and nobody with an iota of empathy would suggest that William should be doing official engagements on the day that his wife comes home. That apart, he should keep going, as the King is doing and indeed as Kate is doing with her charities from her hospital bed, and as thousands of ordinary men and women are doing every day
Indeed, in such a situation children need calm and normality rather than an excess of emotion.