Harry and Meghan were indeed married before their wedding ‘spectacle’
"Three days before our wedding, we got married," Meghan told Oprah, as she fed the hens and chickens. "No one knows that but we called the Archbishop and we just…
Monarchy
The Church of Englishness
Upon reading Archbishop Stephen Cotterell’s remarks on English identity in the Telegraph, I was reminded of the time I was reading the Law Society Gazette whilst waiting for a court case to be called. An interesting report caught my eye:…
Wales lockdown isn’t only absurd; it denies freedom of religion
Tomorrow is your birthday. You've received a card from your Mum every single year of your life, without fail, even when you were abroad, and even when she was very…
Vicar: ‘If you don’t worship in the CofE (or only come at Christmas), don’t complain about what we do’
The Rev'd Miranda Threlfall-Holmes had a premonition that her tweet would be unpopular, but still she shared her ecclesiology with the world: "People are only allowed to complain about the…
The United Kingdom is no longer a Constitutional Monarchy
The unanimous judgment in the Supreme Court that Parliament is not and never has been prorogued, and that the advice of the Prime Minister to the Queen was "unlawful, void…
Church of England’s Brexit prayers – what exactly do they mean?
A few months ago the Archbishop of York issued a Brexit prayer, or, rather, 'A Prayer for Parliament in Time of Brexit Trouble'. It was a fairly benign effort which…
Catholic Herald calls for disestablishment of the Church of England
The Catholic Herald has long held a certain antipathy toward the term 'Protestant', with occasional blurts of 'bigot' aimed at anyone so obtuse as to be duped by its theology…
Diana: queen of people’s hearts and the nation’s near-death experience
It was 20 years ago today that the world awoke to the news that Diana, Princess of Wales, had been killed in a car crash beneath the Pont de l'Alma…
The first British monarch to celebrate a Sapphire Jubilee – God Save The Queen!
65 years ago today, King George VI put his hand into the Hand of God, which was better than light and safer than a known way. And in that very…
Rev’d Dr Gavin Ashenden resigns as Chaplain to the Queen
After a conversation instigated by officials at Buckingham Palace, it is with regret that the Rev'd Dr Gavin Ashenden – theologian, academic, columnist and occasional contributor to this blog –…
The establishment of the Church of England and the Christian Monarchy flourish together or fall together
This is a guest post by the Rev’d Dr Gavin Ashenden, Chaplain to the Queen. __________________________ One of the many reasons I like twitter is for the jokes. “Why should…
Independence Day UK: resurgence of democracy; restoration of sovereignty
It is the fissure of the state. The people have met the people: they looked and evaluated, and the greater soul has chosen to be more free, noble, ingenious…
The Queen's 90th: Happy Birthday, Ma'am
God has saved her and she has lived long. The first two invocations of the National Anthem have been and are still being fulfilled. Her Majesty The Queen's 90th…
Time to forgive Guy Fawkes?
"Guy Fawkes should be forgiven because he has become a ‘global brand’, says headmaster of Catholic plotter's old school." That's a summary of an inept piece in the Telegraph…
Without Christianity at its heart, the next Coronation will be empty ritual
In the week when Queen Elizabeth II reached a momentous landmark in her reign, it does feel rather inappropriate to be talking about what will happen once she is…
Elizabeth II becomes our longest-reigning monarch – God Save The Queen!
Today, 9th September 2015, sometime around 5.30pm, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II becomes the longest-reigning monarch in British history, beating the record previously set by her great-great grandmother Queen…
A British Bill of Rights is wholly contingent on the UK leaving the EU
Today's Queen's Speech is the first to be delivered on behalf of a majority Conservative government since 1996, when John Major was Prime Minister and 'Europe' was tearing his…
"How can a Christian vote Tory?"
It has been the most frequent question posed over the past month or so – sometimes emailed or DM'd; most often tweeted, and frequently interrogated in the chat threads.…
Green Party: Christians welcome, but only if you ignore your faith
Last Sunday I was invited on to BBC Radio Suffolk to discuss a poll they had carried out asking General Election candidates in Suffolk to state their faith. The…
Why do bishops flaunt their Socialism but shroud their Conservatism?
When the Archbishop of York was giving media interviews recently to promote his book On Rock or Sand?, he made clear that "the theology of where I am coming…