The British monarch is the head of the Church of England, and every one of them since Henry VIII has held the title of fidei defensor, defender of the faith. Coins with Charles III's image on them have not been released yet, but to this day all coins with from his mother's reign bear her image along with the the letters D.G. REG. F.D., or dei gratia (by the grace of God) regina (queen) fidei defensor (defender of the faith).
I know that he leans way left politically, but I wonder if Charles III approves of this:
The Church of England will look into the use of gender neutral terms to refer to God in prayers, but the centuries-old institution said on Wednesday there were no plans to abolish current services.
The issue reflects growing global awareness about the assumed usage of pronouns causing offence or upset to those who do not identify with the gender they were assigned at birth...
The spokesperson said there had been greater interest in exploring new language since the introduction of its forms of service in contemporary language more than 20 years ago.
Bishop Michael Ipgrave, vice chairman of the Church's liturgical commission, said the Church had been "exploring the use of gendered language in relation to God for several years".
The deliberation is the latest attempt by the Church, central to one of the world's oldest Christian institutions, to keep up with rapidly evolving notions around gender and sexuality in recent decades.
I do believe Henry VIII recieved that title for a tract he wrote defending the Catholic church before he broke with it in order engineer a divorce.
ReplyDeleteYou are correct, only now it's Parliament that grants the title, according to the source of all knowledge, Wikipedia:
ReplyDeleteFollowing Henry's decision to break with Rome in 1530 and establish himself as head of the Church of England, the title was revoked by Pope Paul III and he was excommunicated. However in 1543[7] the Parliament of England conferred (by a bill entitled "The Bill for the Kinges Stile") on King Henry VIII and his successors, now the defenders of the Anglican faith, the style "Henry the Eighth by the Grace of God King of England, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith and of the Church of England and also of Ireland in Earth the Supreme Head". All subsequent monarchs (except the Catholic Queen Mary I) became supreme governors.