Today, King Charles III is officially following in Queen Elizabeth II's footsteps as the next reigning monarch. During the coronation ceremony, led by Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, a series of important religious traditions are taking place, including an anointment not shown on TV. With these events unfolding for the first time in the 21st century, many are wondering what religion the royal family practices.
Before King Charles ascended to the throne, Queen Elizabeth was the Supreme Governor and Defender of the Faith of the Church of England, the state church of England that broke with Roman Catholicism in the 16th century.
According to the royal family’s website, these titles date back to King Henry VIII’s reign when he was given the title “Defender of the Faith” by Pope Leo X in 1521. However, when the pope refused to annul Henry VIII’s marriage to his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, after she failed to produce a male heir to the throne, the king renounced the Papacy’s authority in 1534 and divorced her.
After this historical break with Rome, Henry VIII established himself as the "the only supreme head of the Church of England called Anglicana Ecclesia,” according to the BBC.
While Mary I tried to restore Roman Catholicism in England, her sister Elizabeth I declared herself the “Supreme Governor” of the Church of England when she took over the crown in 1558. Since then, the royal family has practiced Anglicanism, a form of Christianity.
Following in Queen Elizabeth's footsteps, King Charles is now acknowledged as the Supreme Governor of the Church of England. Even so, the Archbishop of Canterbury is the head cleric of the church.
At the Queen’s 1953 coronation, the Archbishop of Canterbury anointed her and she took an oath to "maintain and preserve inviolably the settlement of the Church of England, and the doctrine worship, discipline, and government thereof, as by law established in England.”
As the Church of England spread throughout the world, it took on different names in different countries. This group of separate churches are known as the Anglican Communion, but the mother church is still the Church of England with the Archbishop of Canterbury as the united head of the communion.
For Prince Louis's christening in July 2018, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Reverend Justin, performed the ceremony at The Royal Chapel at St. James's Palace in London. He also officiated Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding in May earlier that year and baptized Meghan into the Church of England in March.
