King to acknowledge his commitment to multiple faiths during Coronation speech
THE King is expected to recognise that he serves all religious faiths and not just the Church of England when he speaks during his Coronation.
The Coronation oath, in which he will pledge to be Defender of the Faith, will not change.
However, palace aides and church officials are planning to add a form of words to allow the King to recognise his commitment to the multiple faiths of a diverse Britain.
The King has long worked to promote interfaith dialogue. In September, days after he became monarch, he vowed to “protect the space for faith itself ”, promising religious leaders at a Buckingham Palace reception that he would uphold the numerous “religions, cultures, traditions and beliefs to which our hearts and minds direct us”.
It had previously been reported that the King was considering altering the oath to make himself “Defender of Faith” or “Defender of the Faiths”. However, such a move would require a change in the law, for which there is not enough time ahead of the May 6 Coronation.
It is likely to be amended ahead of the coronation of the Prince of Wales.
The Constitution Unit at University College London recommended in October that the King swear to defend all religious faiths, suggesting that such a change to the oath would better reflect modern Britain. In their report, “Swearing in the New King: The Accession and Coronation Oaths”, Prof Robert Hazell and Dr Bob Morris said the oath taken by the late Queen during her Coronation in 1953, during which she promised to be “Defender of the Faith upholding the rights of the Church of England”, no longer suited a country in which a wider variety of religions were practised.
The unit said that not only should the current oath be updated in time for Prince William’s accession to the throne but that the Government should make clear ahead of King Charles’ Coronation that the oath would be amended.
The King has always intended to ensure that all faiths are recognised during his Coronation.
In 1994, he said: “I personally would rather see it as defender of faith, not the faith, because it (defender of the faith) means just one particular interpretation of the faith, which I think is sometimes something that causes a deal of a problem.
“It has done for hundreds of years. People have fought each other to the death over these things, which seems to me a peculiar waste of people’s energy, when we’re all actually aiming for the same ultimate goal.”
A Buckingham Palace spokesman declined to comment, beyond stating that “all details of the Coronation will be shared in due course”.
Lambeth Palace also declined to comment.