King Charles III was crowned at Westminster on Saturday, 6 May 2023 in a service steeped in tradition and history, with modern touches reflecting the sovereign’s style. Just think, it was 70 years ago when the young prince stood in the royal box at Westminster Abbey on June 2, 1953 – bored and unimpressed – watching his own mother’s, Queen Elizabeth II, coronation ceremonies. In the image above he’s shown flanked between Queen Elizabeth Queen Mother and Princess Margaret Rose.
You would have to be living a hermit’s life to avoid the glitter and spectacle of the weekend’s crowning event. There can be absolutely no doubt that the gold medal for pomp and glory must go to the ceremony at Westminster Abbey. But experts have pointed out it’s not legally required, so why have it at all?
Two key pieces of legislation — the Coronation Oath Act 1689 and the Accession Declaration Act 1910 — assume that a coronation will take place. However, Charles succeeded as King the moment his mother died. Bob Morris, an honorary research associate in the constitution unit at University College London, says, “1953 was the last imperial coronation. Now we are no longer an imperial society, what happens to the coronation?” Many go further, Geoffrey Robertson KC, a prominent republican, adds that the coronation “has no legal meaning”. It is, he argues, “a superstitious Anglican ceremony harking back to the divine right of kings.” A potted legal history partly supports his description.
In the wake of the Glorious Revolution, when William and Mary were invited to assume the throne in 1689, they did so subject to the Declaration of Right presented to them by parliament, which became the Bill of Rights 1689. The Act of Settlement 1701 confirmed that it was for parliament to determine the title to the throne. Ensuring protestant succession, the act said that the crown would pass to Sophia of Hanover — the granddaughter of King James I — and her descendants.
Statutes also regulate the three religious oaths that the monarch must swear. So, even today, Roman Catholics are specifically excluded from succession, and the sovereign must be in communion with the Church of England and swear to preserve the established church.
As a result of these acts, which Robertson says “breaches the spirit of modern human rights rules about non-discrimination and equal opportunities”, the KC complains that “for the next 80 or so years we will be reigned over by a white Anglo-German, protestant male — Charles III, William V, and George VII”.
Is that of concern?
Kings and queens have been crowned across Europe, Asia, Africa, and here in Aotearoa for centuries. While the rituals may differ in Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, or Māori cultures, the purpose remains the same: to present to a nation, clan, or tribe the ruler chosen to guide their destiny with justice and mercy and to demand their allegiance
Britain has evolved from a “constitutional” to a “ceremonial” monarchy, according to a report from the think tank “UK in a Changing Europe”. However, the sovereign remains the “fountain of justice”, symbolised, as the Lord Chief Justice said in a 2019 speech, by the royal coat of arms in all courtrooms. Justice is exercised in the name of the sovereign, judges are appointed by the monarch, and senior advocates are appointed King’s Counsel.
Members of the King’s Counsel and junior barristers adjust their wigs as they prepare to mark the coronation of the King in Gray’s Inn, which is one of four Inns of Court which can appoint barristers to the King’s Counsel.
As I watched on Saturday, alongside my soon-to-be 102-year-old mother, her sharp memory of the last coronation heard by radio and seen in print was impressive. We dug out her old newspaper clippings describing the ‘magical objects’ used in the ceremony. Exactly the same items were used for King Charles.
Influenced by the practice of Roman emperors and the biblical accounts of the coronations of Hebrew kings, the objects and rituals have echoes of pre-Christian Frankish and Saxon tribal insignia. The symbolism and words used, while ancient, retain meaning no matter who or what you are.
The coronation ring, dating from 1831, represents dignity. It is placed on the new sovereign’s right hand, and the sceptres are then given to him or her. The sceptre adorned with a dove is called the Rod of Equity and Mercy — it is symbolic of the sovereign’s spiritual role. The sceptre with a cross symbolises his power on earth, in the fullness of his time.
During the ceremony, the Bishop of Canterbury gives the sceptre to the new king or queen, and says, “Receive the rod of Equity and Mercy. Be so merciful that you be not too remiss; so execute justice that you forget not mercy. Punish the wicked, protect and cherish the just, and lead your people in the way wherein they should go.”
The swords too carry much symbolism and are potent reminders that leadership and judgement must at times involve invidious choices. Again the words used bare reflection:
Receive this kingly sword. May it be to you, and to all who witness these things, a sign and symbol not of judgement, but of justice; not of might, but of mercy.”
When the King is seated, the Archbishop continues:
With this sword do justice, stop the growth of iniquity, protect the holy Church of God and all people of goodwill, help and defend widows and orphans, restore the things that are gone to decay, maintain the things that are restored, punish and reform what is amisss, and confirm what is in good order.”
Be you monarch or the monarch’s judge these words are reminders of a core common good in leadership or judgement. A common good at times lost in pointless argument or, worse still, virtuous signalling.
While this King's realm is likely to be considerably diminished as many states recognising the anachronism of present arrangements will likely drop the royal connection and create republics; will any who formulate our new laws uphold the same common good? Will they use their might and execute justice with mercy? Time will tell, in the meantime with a monarch dedicated to service like his mother who has already given valuable patronage to just causes may god bless him.
Gerard