It's a remarkable historic break from centuries of tradition, and revealed to the public just seven days before the coronation.
The Archbishop of Canterbury's office revealed plans to make the ceremony something of a 'People's Coronation' by scrapping the historic rite of aristocrats pledging their oath to the new sovereign, but offering all citizens of the UK and Commonwealth the opportunity to 'make their homage in heart and voice to their undoubted King' instead.
The order of service will read: "All who so desire, in the Abbey, and elsewhere, say together: I swear that I will pay true allegiance to Your Majesty, and to your heirs and successors according to law. So help me God."
Royal reverberations
This rather ill-thought-through move has sparked much conversation and considerable backlash among the British public. Many question why the public would want to state its allegiance to a monarchy that is purely symbolic, and one that is less popular than it was just a decade ago – especially among young people. It has also been pointed out that Queen Elizabeth not only swore her allegiance to the people of the nation and the Commonwealth, but lived that out in a long life of committed service. The open-endedness of the oath has also caused concern – allegiance being additionally sought to Charles’s “heirs and successors.”
Many question why the public would want to state its allegiance to a monarchy that is purely symbolic, and one that is less popular than it was just a decade ago.
Republican groups have jumped on the Archbishop’s announcement, calling it “an offensive and tone-deaf gesture that holds the people in contempt.” Even royal insiders are understood to be unimpressed with it. Thus, Lambeth Palace quickly had to clarify that the ‘Homage of the People’ was an “invitation” for people to vocally offer their “true allegiance” to the monarch and his heirs, rather than an “expectation or request.”
Even many royalists who adored the recently deceased Queen feel little or no allegiance to Charles, and would therefore regard any such ‘homage’ as being entirely hypocritical. In Scotland, where polls show that two-thirds of people don’t care about the coronation, the call for a pledge of allegiance has gone down particularly badly.
Money matters
The Spectator’s Julie Birchill said, “It’s hardly an egalitarian twist to have millions of poor people bowing down to a man who is where he is through an accident of birth”. Many others have contrasted the vast wealth of Charles – estimated at some £1.75 billion – to the comparative ‘poverty’ in which many thousands of Brits live, many of them relying on food banks.
Others have scorned the cost of the coronation, which is likely to be in the region of £250 million, including security costs of a staggering £150 million. Queen Elizabeth’s coronation in 1953 cost the equivalent of around £50 million in today’s money (when security was, of course, less of a consideration).
Concerns have also been expressed about Charles’s own ‘allegiance’ – particularly to the World Economic Forum.
Our ‘true allegiance’
Given that the swearing of allegiance is equivalent to taking an oath, this requires careful consideration for everyone who is contemplating such action, not least for Christians. Taken literally, both Matthew 5:34 and James 5:12 urge believers not to swear oaths - though such instruction becomes more nuanced in Matthew 23:16-22. Note also the consequence of making oaths as expressed in Acts 23:12ff; Matthew 26:74ff.
For an alternative Declaration (and intercessory prayers), please consider the attached, compiled by a UK intercessory team.
Concerns have also been expressed about Charles’s own ‘allegiance’ – not least to the World Economic Forum. The King has close connections to the WEF, has spoken at various Forum events and has his own page on the WEF website. His own website (princeofwales.gov.uk) boasts that at the June 2020 WEF convention, “through HRH’s Sustainable Markets Initiative and the World Economic Forum, The Prince of Wales launched a new global initiative, The Great Reset.”
Celebrate - and pray
In the weeks leading up to the Coronation, support for the monarchy has substantially grown. The event will take place tomorrow morning, Saturday May 6 at London’s Westminster Abbey. Coronation Big Lunches, thousands of street parties, and The Big Help Out will bring communities together over a special Bank Holiday Coronation weekend. It will indeed be a truly historic occasion, and many millions will wish to celebrate the event.
As countless believers mark this momentous occasion, and offer our ongoing prayers for the new king and his family, may we always remember the One to whom our ‘true allegiance’ really lies – the eternal King of kings and Lord of lords.
