A group of academics has recommended changing the oath to better reflect modern, multicultural Britain
The Monarch should swear to defend all religious faiths at his Coronation, a group of academics has recommended.
They say such a change to the Coronation oath would better reflect modern, multicultural Britain and King Charles’s own stated desire to be defender of all faiths rather than just the Anglican church.
The Constitution Unit at University College London says the oath taken by Queen Elizabeth at 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 are practiced.
In the unit’s report, Swearing in the New King: The Accession and Coronation Oaths, Professor Robert Hazell and Dr Bob Morris state: “With the accession of King Charles questions will continue to be raised about the suitability in our more secular and multi-faith society of the new monarch taking a series of oaths which privilege Protestantism, the Church of England and the Church of Scotland.”