The outpouring of gratitude and grief at the death of the Queen was an occasion of rare unity in Britain. The people who came to pay their respects to the Queen at various stages during the ten days of national mourning were remarkable for coming from every age and background and indeed religion. Yet it was in the burial service according to the rites of the Church that the Queen’s character as a Christian was most fully expressed. And in that service Catholics played a part: Cardinal Nichols offered one of the bidding prayers; the anthem at the Commendation was by James MacMillan; the ceremonies were presided over by the Duke of Norfolk. That was fitting, for Catholics too mourned the passing of the Queen, described by Cardinal Nichols as “a virtuous lady”.
For the Queen was something remarkable in contemporary Britain, a sincere, professing Christian who was respectful of the beliefs of others but who practised her faith simply and as a matter of course. She was more open about her beliefs in Christmas addresses later in her reign – indeed, those addresses had the character of sermons – but her Christianity was manifest in her invariable Sunday church attendance and her warm relationship with clerics. In old-fashioned language, she confessed her faith in her actions and she did incalculable good by that public witness.
King Charles held a meeting with Church and faith leaders during the period of mourning for the Queen, where he made clear his own position.
“I have always thought of Britain as a ‘community of communities’. That has led me to understand that the sovereign has an additional 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. This diversity is not just enshrined in the laws of our country, it is enjoined by my own faith.”
We can, then, assume that the King will continue to be unabashedly Christian, and that the coronation – which the Duke of Norfolk presides over – will be inclusive of other faiths in some way as well as an assertion of the King’s role as head of the Church of England. Once, the promises the monarch made to uphold the Protestant faith at the coronation were hostile to Catholicism; now they can be understood in a very different spirit.
The King’s position in respect of his marriage is undeniably problematic; he is married to a divorced woman whose husband, the Catholic Andrew Parker Bowles, is still alive. This situation is far from ideal, but given current social mores, it is hardly unusual.
The King has, in his previous role, spoken about persecuted Christians in other parts of the world. We must hope that he is not constrained by his position from continuing to address this urgent issue even if he must now do so discreetly rather than openly.
Catholics will wish him well, and pray for him. Vivat Rex.
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