AS A child, I was the sort of clever-clogs who examined his pennies before spending them on sweets. So I learned early on that Fid Def – or simply F D – imprinted around the head of the monarch on our coinage is Latin, short for Fidei Defensor (Defender of the Faith).
The title was conferred on the devoutly Catholic Henry VIII by Pope Leo X in 1521 in recognition of the king’s book A Defence of the Seven Sacraments, a counter-blast to the Protestant Reformation being preached by Martin Luther. Henry of course went on to blot his prayer book by declaring himself head of the Church in England. England became a Protestant nation, but subsequent monarchs were still called Defender of the Faith. Now, however, King Charles III seems to be watering down that 500-year-old legacy.
The Sovereign Grant report, the annual review of the Royal Family’s finances, previously described him as: ‘Head of the Church of England and Defender of the Faith’. This year’s edition, outlining the official duties of the monarch, says: ‘His Majesty is Supreme Governor of the Church of England and protects the space for faith within the multi-faith nation.’
Really? We heard nothing of this at his coronation in 2023. During the ceremony at Westminster Abbey, the Archbishop of Canterbury asked him: ‘Will you to the utmost of your power maintain in the United Kingdom the Protestant Reformed Religion established by law? Will you 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?’ Charles replied: ‘All this I promise to do. The things which I have here before promised I will perform and keep. So help me God.’
So much for that, then. Of course, the king and his courtiers will argue that he is still very much a Protestant, but sees it as his duty to defend other religions in our ‘multi-faith’ society. However, it’s probably no surprise that such a woke, wishy-washy, plant-conversing, muddled monarch seems to be meandering away from strict adherence to the terms of his inheritance. He signalled it as long ago as 1994, when he declared that he wanted to be a ‘Defender of Faith’.
I’ve no axe to grind in this – I’m not religious and would have no regrets if the monarchy were abolished. But, archaic as the concept may be, the governance of the country is founded on a single faith, a Christian faith. Until that is changed – and in today’s broken, open-borders Britain, it may well be sooner than we expect – Charles should perhaps think twice about defending certain other religions, the tenets of which are indefensible. Then we citizens of his ‘multi-faith nation’ might have more faith in him. Also, the Royal Mint would be spared from revising our coinage to replace Fidei Defensor. According to an online translator, ‘Protector of the space for faith within the multi-faith nation’ in Latin is roughly Defensor Spatii Fidei Intra Civitatem Multarum Fides. Even if you shortened that mouthful to DSFICMF, the poor engravers would surely be struggling to fit it round the edge of a 20p piece.
