By becoming king, Charles III endorses not only the dress of head of state of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth, but also that of the Anglican Church. This last cap officially confers on the monarch the power to appoint the bishops and archbishops of the Church.
But this role of supreme governor of the Church of England is mostly symbolic, since his power of appointment is exercised only after the advice of an ecclesiastical commission.
“Today the king has no power over the Church. If he ‘appoints’ the bishops, for example, it is a formal signature at the proposal of the Prime Minister, who sends an election of an internal ecclesiastical committee to the Church that only decides”, explained Rémy Bethmont, professor of British history and civilisation, when Figaro.
A retired king of the Church?
If Carlos III recalled his religious role in his first televised speech, evoking the “particular relationship and responsibility of the sovereign with the Church of England”, the specialists wonder about the relationship that he will maintain specifically with the ‘Church’.
For Jeffrey John, father of the Anglican parish of Saint-Georges in Paris, the new sovereign must remain in the background, like Elizabeth II, while showing off his faith.
“It is the same on a religious level as it is on a political level. It is impossible for the king or queen to express their own opinions because, immediately, it might divide people,” he told Europe 1.
“Defender of Beliefs”
However, there could be a break between his reign and that of his mother, as he seems to be more open to other religions. Instead of limiting his role to the protection of the Anglican faith, the future sovereign had declared in particular in 1994 that he preferred to see himself “as a defender of the beliefs”, he recalls. The cross.
If he had reconsidered his statements in 2015 in another interview, he had nevertheless defended his concern for “the inclusion of the faith of others and their freedom of worship in this country.”
In particular, he has shown his openness to Islam on different occasions, assuring for example that he has studied the Koran, and transmitting his wishes to Muslims during Ramadan last April, the newspaper still recalls.
“There won’t be such a big change”
But this openness to other religions does not necessarily mean changes in the practice of his role as head of the Anglican Church.
“It is true that Charles, perhaps more than his mother, showed more interest in interreligious issues, but this cannot be interpreted as less interest and less loyalty to the Church of England,” said Jeremy Morris, an Anglican specialist, in Figaro.
And given that the new king recalled his loyalty to the Church he rules during his first speech, the specialist does not expect his monarchical role as supreme governor of this Church to change substantially under his reign.
The same story from the side of the British specialists. “King Charles will rethink what it means to be a defender of the faith, but it will be a reflection of how his mother played his role in reality,” Diarmaid MacCulloch, a history professor at Oxford University, told The Guardian.
For him, the queen was also “very aware that she presided over a multicultural society”, so “in practice there will not be such a big change” with the arrival of Carlos III to power.
Source: BFM TV
