Crowning a Christian King

The coronation service was unmistakably first and foremost a service of Christian worship. Charles came not to be commissioned into a constitutional role, but to anointed into a sacred, almost priestly, calling. And yet despite all this, in many ways, this month’s coronation was perhaps the UK’s first post-Christian enthronement. The country’s religious landscape is almost unrecognisable since 1953, the last time we did this, and Charles’s coronation reflected that in important ways too.

So why do we crown kings the way we do? How did the coronation and monarchy become so enmeshed with Christianity and is this actually a good thing? And how has this coronation changed spiritually-speaking, and what might this tell us about the religious trajectory our nation is on?

Guests this week:

• Rev William Gulliford, Church of England vicar and royal commentator
• Catherine Pepinster, religious affairs journalist and author of Defenders of the Faith: The British Monarchy, Religion and the Next Coronation
• Rhiannon McAleer, head of research and impact at the Bible Society