1 Quoted in Pepinster, C, Defenders of the Faith (London, 2022), 216Google Scholar.

2 In December 1991, Rabbi Romain had told Catherine Pepinster that ‘Jewish people and those of many faiths and none [would] listen attentively [to the monarch] “because she is our Queen as much as anyone else's”’: ibid, 252–253. The title Defender of the Faith had been ratified by An Act for the Ratification of the King's Stile 1543 (sic) in relation to ‘the church of England, and also of Ireland’; in the rest of the Commonwealth, therefore, the monarch is not regarded as Defender of the Faith.

3 See, too, <https://secularism.org.uk> and, for example, <https:www.theguardian.com>, both accessed 28 November 2022.

4 The title was originally granted to King Henry VIII by Pope Leo X for ‘his attack on heresy and defence of Papal authority’: Cross, F L and Livingstone, E A (eds), The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (3rd edn) (Oxford, 2005), 752CrossRefGoogle Scholar. It was later withdrawn by Pope Paul III on Henry VIII's excommunication. However, in the meantime the title had been ratified by An Act for the Ratification of the King's Stile 1543 (sic); this Act was repealed during the reign of Philip and Mary but revived by the Act of Supremacy 1558, s 9. Other European countries also require their monarchs to be of a particular religious denomination: see Hazell, R and Morris, B (eds), The Role of Monarchy in Modern Democracy (Oxford, 2020), 196CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

5 Another letter in the same newspaper on the same day, although not espousing disestablishment, nevertheless argued for stripping the General Synod of its right to generate its ‘measures (sic) into law’.

6 However, nothing prevents a new monarch stating an intention to support other faiths in addition to that of the protestant religion, as indeed has happened in the case of King Charles III.

7 According to The Times on 1 February 1993, the two archbishops indicated that they were likely to consult (unspecified) constitutional authorities and ecclesiastical lawyers ‘at some time in the future’. However, it was recognised that any change to the coronation oath ‘might be difficult because the wording protected the church’. General interest still continues as the recent publication of C Pepinster, Defenders of Faith shows (note 1); see also Hazell and Morris (note 4).

8 See Extraordinary London issue 63812 of The London Gazette dated 12 September 2022; Extraordinary Edinburgh issue 29702 and Extraordinary Belfast issue 8508. In his oath relating to the security of the Church in Scotland, King Charles described himself as ‘Defender of the Faith’.

9 On 21 January 2022, Buckingham Palace announced ‘further details on the [coronation] ceremony’; this stated that ‘As previously announced, the Service will reflect the Monarch's role today and look towards the future, while being rooted in longstanding traditions and pageantry’ (see <https//www.royal.uk/coronation-weekend-plans-announced>, accessed 23 January 2023) Unfortunately, and in spite of rumours and speculation in the media, no further details are as yet forthcoming: see <https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-64349942> for example, accessed 23 January 2023.

10 The short title was given by the Statute Law Revision Act 1948, Sch 2. See, too, the Bill of Rights, s 1; the Act of Settlement 1701, s 2; the Schedule to the Accession Declaration Act 1910 requires the new monarch to state: ‘I [here insert the name of the Sovereign] do solemnly and sincerely in the presence of God profess, testify, and declare that I am a faithful Protestant, and that I will, according to the true intent of the enactments which secure the Protestant succession to the Throne of my Realm, uphold and maintain the said enactments to the best of my powers according to law’.

11 W H Bliss (ed), Liber Regalis seu Ordo Consecrandi Regem Solum, Ordo Consecrandi Reginam Solam, Rubrica De Regis Exequiis, E Cod. Westmonasteriensi (London, 1870). A facsimile of the Liber Regalis printed by Scholar Select is available on the internet. The original date of the Liber Regalis is uncertain but appears to be before 1380: preface, 5. This dating, however, depends upon internal dating alone and ‘it is quite possible that it was used at the Coronations of Richard II and of his Queen’: introduction, xv.

12 ‘The Liber Regalis is written in a clear bold hand, on thirty-three leaves of thick vellum. The illuminations, of which there are three that occupy nearly a whole page and one that fronts the first leaf, with the initial letters and illuminated border of page 1, are of a date not later than 1380’: ibid, preface, i. The best surviving example is in the custody of the Dean of Westminster Abbey.

13 It was thus more of an aide-memoire than a directive.

14 Ibid, introduction, xiv.

15 Ibid, iii.

16 Ibid, vi. That is from 675 AD to 1820 AD.

17 Ibid, vi.

18 Ibid, vi-vii.

19 J W Legg (ed), Three Coronation Orders (London, 1900), app I, vii and ix. This has now been reprinted by Forgotten Books (2012). For a copy of the oath taken by James II, see app I, 65–66. For further historical details and a different view of the legality of some of the more recent coronation oaths, see G Watt, The Coronation Oath (2017) 19 EccLJ 325–341. Both L Leader, Ecclesiastical Law Handbook (London, 1997), para 9.9, and M Hill, Ecclesiastical Law (4th edn) (Oxford, 2018), para 5.62 point out that for such a special occasion as a coronation the service must be approved in accordance with the provisions of Canon B4. See, too, note 39. Canon A7 acknowledges that the monarch ‘has supreme authority over all persons in all causes, as well ecclesiastical as civil’.

20 Coronation Oath Act 1688, s 1.

21 Section 2 merely clarifies that the oath set out in section 3 was that to be used in the coronation of William and Mary: ‘May it please Your Majesties That the Oath herein Mentioned and hereafter Expressed shall and may be Adminstred to their most Excellent Majestyes King William and Queene Mary (whome God long preserve) at the time of Their Coronation in the presence of all Persons that shall be then and there present at the Solemnizeing thereof by the Archbishop of Canterbury or the Archbishop of Yorke or either of them or any other Bishop of this Realme whome the King's Majesty shall thereunto appoint and who shall be hereby thereunto respectively Authorized which Oath followeth and shall be Administred in this Manner …’. The provisions of section 3 were considered in Williamson v Archbishop of Canterbury (1994, unreported) where Morritt LJ said: ‘The references in the Coronation Oath to “the Protestant Reformed Religion established by law” and “the settlement of the Church of England and the doctrine, worship, discipline and government thereof, as by law established in England” evidently refer to such religion, church, doctrine, worship, discipline and government so established from time to time, thereby admitting of changes in accordance with the law by which it is established’ (quoted by C George KC in ‘The Ecclesiastical Common Law: A Quarter-Century Retrospective’ (2012) 14 Ecc LJ 20, at 26. I am grateful to Morag Ellis KC, the present Dean of the Arches and Auditor, for reminding me of this article). See, too, the Act of Settlement 1701 and the Union with Scotland Act 1706.

22 ‘And the said Oath shall be in like manner Adminstred to every King or Queene who shall Succeede to the Imperiall Crowne of this Realme at their respective Coronations by one of the Archbishops or Bishops of this Realme of England for the time being to be thereunto appointed by such King or Queene respectively and in the Presence of all Persons that shall be Attending Assisting or otherwise present at such their respective Coronations Any Law Statute or Usage to the contrary notwithstanding.’ For a copy of the oath taken by James II, see Legg (note 19), app I, 65–66. This oath specifically asked if the King was prepared to take the oath ‘usually taken by Your Predecessors’. For another copy of the oath taken by William and Mary, see Legg (note 19), 19–20. Every monarch ‘must make, subscribe and repeat, sitting on the throne in the House of Lords, either on the first day of the meeting of the first Parliament after the accession, or at the coronation, whichever shall first happen, a declaration that he or she is a faithful protestant, and will, according to the true intent of the enactments which secure the protestant succession to the throne, uphold and maintain those enactments to the best of his or her powers according to law’: Bill of Rights 1688, s 1; Act of Settlement 1701, s 2; Accession Declaration Act 1910, s 1. The latter provision also states that the declaration must be ‘made, subscribed, and audibly repeated’ by the monarch. The declaration was made by King Charles III on 9 September 2022.

23 The words in italics were modified at the coronation of the late Queen Elizabeth II in order to reflect the territories then held by the Crown; this was in accordance with the Accession Declaration Act 1910. The oath also necessarily reflected that the oath was to be taken by a single monarch and to be administered by the Archbishop. See further below.

24 At the last coronation, these words were altered but nonetheless reflected the content of the original. The words used were: ‘Will you to the utmost of your power maintain the Laws of God and the true profession of the Gospel. 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? And will you preserve unto the Bishops and Clergy of England, and to the Churches there committed to their charge, all such rights and privileges, as by law do or shall appertain to them or any of them?’: Coronation of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II The Form and Order of Service and the Music Sung in the Abbey Church of St Peter, Westminster, 2 June 1953 (London, 1953) 14.

25 At the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II the words ‘All this I promise to do’ were inserted before the final sentence. Halsbury's Laws (5th edn) (London, 2011), vol 34, para 810, note 4 says: ‘The oath appears to have come first originally, because, presumably, the people would not have confirmed the election of the monarch had he not promised to govern according to law’.

26 R Phillimore, The Ecclesiastical Law of the Church of England (London, 1873), vol I, 1054, note (a); in the 1895 edition Sir Walter Phillimore, vol I, 813, note (a) replicates the first edition verbatim. Immediately before the oath itself is set out the document states: ‘The sermon having ended, and Her Majesty having on Monday, the 20^th Day of November, 1837, in the presence of the Two Houses of Parliament made and signed the Declaration, the Archbishop goes to the Queen, and standing before Her, says to the Queen …’. In the passage set out below, the italicisation and capitals are repeated as in the original. For references to the forms of service at the coronations between 1661 and 1821; see Bliss (note 11), app V, 55–56; Legg (note 19), 10, apps I, VIII and X.

27 It seems that the precise form of answers was regarded as so important that the Queen's memory could not be relied upon.

28 The reason for this alteration to the set wording appears to be in order to take into consideration the religious feelings of those in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. See, generally, J L Weatherhead (ed), The Constitution and Laws of the Church of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1997); C A H Green, The Constitution of the Church in Wales (London, 1937); N Doe, The Law in the Church of Wales (Cardiff, 2002); N Doe (ed), Essays in Canon Law (Cardiff, 1992); N Doe (ed), A New History of the Church in Wales (Cambridge, 2002); P M H Bell, Disestablishment in Ireland and Wales (London, 1969).

29 A marginal note at this point states: ‘The Bible to be brought’. The marginal note is repeated as a marginal note in R Phillimore (note 26), 1060.

30 Halsbury's Laws (5th edn) (London, 2011), vol 34, para 810, note 3 states: ‘The ceremony represents the old elective principle, ‘Non a regnando dicitur, sed a bene regnando et ad hoc electus est’. [It is said that not by ruling but by ruling well, he was chosen for this’].

31 A further marginal note states: ‘And a Silver Standish’ (a standish is a stand for holding pens, ink, and other writing equipment: see the online Oxford Dictionary of English) This marginal note is also repeated in R Phillimore (note 26), 1060.

32 Watt (note 19), 326ff.

33 Ibid, 328. The only authority cited for two alterations in the coronation oath taken by George VI was ‘previous practice’: see HC Deb 17 March 1937, vol. 321, col 2098W, Ramsey McDonald in his capacity as Lord President of the Council.

34 HC Deb 25 February 1953, vol 511, cols 2091–2092. I am indebted to Graeme Watt for all of these references. However, for the implied repeal of a constitutional statute, see Thorburn v Sunderland CC [2003] QB 151.

35 G Watt (note 19) 333. Fortunately, as Aldous LJ pointed out in an unreported judgment in Ball v The Queen (2000) [2000] Lexis Citation 3299, there are perfectly adequate legal reasons for upholding the legality of previous coronations (see below). I am indebted to Graeme Watt for a copy of the transcript.

36 Ball v The Queen [2000] Lexis Citation 3299. The case was an appeal against the judgment of Jonathan Parker J dismissing an appeal from an order of the District Judge striking out the claim. In dismissing the original appeal Jonathan Parker J had pointed out (see paragraph 6 of Aldous LJ's judgment) that Mr Ball ‘did not seek any private remedy against the Crown, which in any case would be unacceptable as the Crown was not personally liable in civil matters; the relief that he sought was declaratory of his personal public rights.’ Indeed, it is difficult to envisage any circumstance in which a private individual could found any civil action based on a failure properly to take, or administer (see the 1688 Act, s 4), the coronation oath; similarly, it is difficult to envisage a criminal case similarly founded and, even if there were, the Director of Public Prosecutions would be entitled to take over any prosecution and to offer no evidence if that course were thought advisable (partially, at least, a political decision): Prosecution of Offences Act 1985, s 6(2). Similarly, it is difficult to envisage such an action being brought by a public body in such circumstances. Jonathan Parker J also decided that Mr Ball's action was an abuse of the court as he ‘was seeking to use the Civil Justice System for a collateral purpose; namely for the purpose of resurrecting and publicising a piece of historical theory’: Aldous LJ's judgment at para 7. See rule 3.4(2)(b) of the Civil Procedure Rules: the court may strike out a statement of case if it appears to the court that ‘the statement of case is an abuse of the court's process or is otherwise likely to obstruct the just disposal of the proceedings.’ Questions of abuse are, of course, necessarily fact specific.

37 Ball v The Queen [2000] Lexis Citation 3299, paras 2–3.

38 Paragraph 21 of the judgment. Aldous LJ stated that ‘… this is a point to which Mr Ball referred’ but unfortunately does not expand on the reasons for his conclusion.

39 Consideration of these constitutional arguments is not within the scope of this article. Whilst an archbishop may well be informed of the proposed content of a forthcoming coronation service and, indeed, have agreed to those contents, the archbishop still remains bound by the ecclesiastical law under which no Anglican minister may lawfully use a form of service unless authorised by Canon B1, paras 1 and 2: ‘Every minister shall use only the forms of service authorised by this Canon, except so far as he may exercise the discretion permitted by Canon B5.’ Such a ‘form of service’ is defined by Canon B1, paras 1 and 3; a coronation service cannot be authorised by royal warrant (see Canon B1, paragraph 1(c)). However, the coronation service can be authorised by the archbishop pursuant to Canon B4, para 2; even if the archbishop does not issue an express authorisation, such an authorisation would doubtless be implied by its actual use. Not only must the archbishop ensure that the form of service ‘in both words and order are reverent and seemly’ but also that the form of service is ‘neither contrary to, nor indicative of any departure from, the doctrine of the Church of England in any essential matter’: Canon B4, para 2. (For an example of such a unilateral omission by an archbishop from an authorised service, see R D H Bursell, Liturgy, Order and the Law (Oxford, 1996), 57, note 183.) Any deviation from the terms of the coronation oath itself would be unlikely to raise any question of doctrine.

40 Note the words of the 1688 Act: ‘in the presence of all persons that shall be attending assisting or otherwise present at such their respective coronations’. Although it may be doubted that each and everyone needs to be able to hear (for example, those who are deaf or those on the margins of the congregation), in these days of microphones and of media broadcasting it is virtually impossible to envisage a challenge on this ground.

41 It is well known that George VI suffered from a bad congenital stutter but that did not prevent his taking the oath.

42 If there is a total incapacity due to illness the provisions of the Regency Acts 1937 to 1953 apply.

43 For example, due to an incipient stroke.

44 This would include both the archbishops and the Duke of Norfolk. It is also inconceivable that there would not be competent doctors and others with medical knowledge in attendance, if only in the congregation.

45 Emphasis added. See, too, note 24 above.

46 Feldman, D et al. , Bennion, Bailey and Norbury on Statutory Interpretation (8th edn) (London, 2020)Google Scholar, §9.4.

47 For an example of the application of the principle within ecclesiastical law, see St Mary, White Waltham (2009) 12 Ecc LJ 122, where Chancellor Bursell QC (as he then was) said: ‘Any priest or sexton is only too aware that the digging of graves in old churchyards human remains may be, and frequently are, inadvertently disturbed. In such cases no order of exhumation is obtained and what occurs is in my view embraced within the legal principle that the law is not concerned with very minor matters.’ [emphasis added]. See, further Halsbury's Laws (5th edn) (London, 2011), vol 34, para 6, note 15; Re St Michael and All Angels, Tettenhall Regis [1996] Fam 44 at 49F-G and Q; and Bursell (note 39), 35–38.

48 See note 17 above.

49 In such circumstances rule 3.4(2)(b) of the Civil Procedure Rules apply: see note 36 above. At the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II the spellings used in the form of service unsurprisingly differed from those used in the 1688 Act. However, this could not raise the question of de minimis as the form of service prescribed by the Act requires that the oath is spoken and audible; it is therefore the spoken word, not the printed form, that is in question. However, if the de minimis principle does apply to the 1688 Act, the alterations to the original form of service set out in note 23 above would seem (at least in part) to fall within it.

50 Coronation of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II (note 24), 13–15.

51 cf. R Phillimore (note 26), vol I, 1060 and ibid at 14.

52 See the provisions of the Interpretation Act 1978, s 10: ‘In any Act a reference to the sovereign reigning at the time of the passing of the Act is to be construed, unless the contrary intention appears, as a reference to the Sovereign for the time being’ (see, too, s 6). See, also, the Succession to the Crown Act 2013.

53 Doubtless there would have been diplomatic exchanges with all those involved.

54 See Canon A7.

55 Proceedings against an Anglican minister (including an archbishop) could be brought under the Clergy Discipline Measure 2003 or, if the proceedings relate to a matter involving ‘doctrine, ritual or ceremonial’, under the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Measure 1963.

56 The clergy, however, are concerned with any unauthorised deviations from the authorised service (see Canon B4, para 3, and note 39 above) rather than with the provisions of the 1688 Act.