You know, upon a cursory look around, I don’t think it is that low, so withdrawn. Christianity Today says 12%. Wikipedia says the same, citing a different source. Here’s still more numbers – 1.36 million Anglicans in Britain in 2013, in the chart “UK Church Membership by Denomination”: Faith Survey | Christianity in the UK – that works out to around 2%.
Of course, the original title related to the Catholic faith and was granted by Pope Julius II in 1507 to James IV of Scotland.
Then in 1521 was conferred by Pope Leo X to Henry VIII. Of course that reward for Assertio Septem Sacramentorum was revoked in 1530 when for expedience Henry decided to bat for the other side.
But following that sound dictum “Never be afraid of new ideas … if you see a good one, steal it” in 1543 Parliament restored the title to Henry without fixing the ambiguity of which faith was being defended.
No cite, but I’ve heard it as “Defender of the Faiths” (plural). Which would presumably have the same effect.
I am very sure she has a desire to keep on living.
I hear a lot of Canadians speak positively about Tim Horton, whoever he is. Must be someone important.
Since Latin has no articles, that would actually be easy to implement. Defensor fidei can be translated as either.
Or it could be split into two separate ceremonies, an Anglican one (probably a shorter version of the traditional service), following by a more ecumenical one. Or a purely religious one, followed by a secular one. The usual suggestion is that the latter would be in Westminster Hall.
And then there will be the Scotland dilemma. Famously, the Edinburgh service of thanksgiving in 1953 was controversially low-key. There will therefore be strong pressure for something grander and some have floated the idea of reviving a Scottish coronation. The SNP may be not-so-crypto-republicans but demanding something very big will be the obvious way for them to cause a fuss.
And what about Wales? One advantage of Prince Charles’s investiture as Prince of Wales in 1969 is that it was unconnected with his mother’s accession. A big investiture for Prince William would have advantages in being a specifically Welsh element in a series of big events to mark the new reign. Or, then again, it would be yet another big event in quick succession.
All this will create a difficult political problem, whose difficulty will arise from the fact that the issues will be inherently contradictory. There will unquestionably be demands for something more low-key and more inclusive. But inclusivity could just as easily create an inflation in ceremonies. And plenty of other people will want the full works. It’s not as if it will only be Anglicans who will want anointing, bishops, hereditary peers, cod-medieval prayers, Handel and the maximum possible bling.
An interesting side aspect of the 1953 coronation was that, coincidentally, the first ascent to Mount Everest by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay had occurred just days before, and news of the success reached Britain on the very day of the coronation. British media dubbed it as a gift to the Queen. It will be difficult to have something similar this time.
But how quick will the succession actually be? The new monarch will start their reign immediately, of course. How long will all the bureaucratic changes take?
For one thing, if Elizabeth were to die while COVID-19 is still on, then the British government would probably not stage a coronation under social distancing conditions.
The accession is immediate. The coronation is often delayed for months.
So if Elizabeth died, Charles immediately becomes king (assuming he’s still alive) and takes over the duties of the job. But the ceremony can be scheduled when it’s more convenient.
Elizabeth, for example, became queen on February 6, 1952 when her father died. But her coronation was held on June 2, 1953.
Edward VIII was never coronated. He became king on January 20, 1936 and abdicated in December before the coronation occurred, which had been scheduled for May 12, 1937.
Quick word question: a couple of people in this thread have used the word “coronated.” Is this correct, or tongue-in-cheek? I have always thought that one was crowned in a coronation, not “coronated.” But maybe they’re synonyms and I’m reading too much into it.
Coronated is a real word. I don’t know if there’s a distinction between being coronated and being crowned.
I’d be surprised to see another 1969-style investiture. That was very heavily a coming-of-age event, and William will be about as old as the Queen was then, with his wife and his own half-grown heir in tow. There would have to be some big event, but I’m guessing (based on nothing but my own intuition) it will be more along the lines of a service of thanksgiving at Llandaff Cathedral followed by a speech before the Senedd and people from other notable Welsh institutions than a mini-coronation like in 1911 or 1969.
I don’t think the % is anywhere near that low, and I find it highly unlikely that the event would exclude a religious anointing. The C of E is still the official, State Church. They may well have representatives of other faiths take a role in the service, but there’s no way the Archbishop of Canterbury isn’t donning his gladrags for a centre stage appearance.
I take it you haven’t visited these Isles recently. Boris is currently conducting his ‘herd immunity’ experiment.
Something to do with corona…virus? (I’ll fetch me coat).
The formalities necessary for a British monarch to take on the functions are done in the first 24 hours or so:
The point about the coronation is that it’s a huge public event, and plenty of people to be miffed if they’re not involved or recognised or something else goes wrong, or not given enough time to organise local events.
So it has to take months to put together, and has to be held in the late spring/early summer months when there’s a chance of better weather (not that that worked in 1953 - unlike Victoria, HM has often not been blessed with the weather - as for the Diamond Jubilee).
Charles will be crowned King of the United Kingdom (provided Scotland hasn’t gone its own way by then). There’s no need for multiple ceremonies. William will become Prince of Wales.
Note, there is usually a year-long gap between the death of a British monarch and the coronation of the next. If the Queen died today, they could start planning. and hopefully a year from now there will be greater herd immunity, and less social distancing.
I’m less certain about this. William has made a real effort to build a connection to Wales, which I think is appreciated. He’s also made some strides with the language, although listening to a clip of him from a couple of years ago, he’s a long way from being fluent (as is frequently claimed in the press). Without both of these conditions, I think there would be very strong resistance in Wales to having any member of the royal family appointed Prince of Wales.
As it stands, I think the resistance will be muted, but it still wouldn’t occur as part of the coronation events. It’s quite a separate thing.