Monarchy

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The Archbishop of Canterbury’s Sermon on the Crown

September 20, 2022
Archbishop Cranmer
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The funeral of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II was always going to be a major televised event, and whoever preached the sermon at Westminster Abbey was always going to be gifted with the most awesome mission – quite literally –…

The Queen is dead — the longest and happiest reign in Britain’s glorious history

September 8, 2022
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The Queen is dead. The curtain has fallen on the second Great Elizabethan Age. And we are heartbroken, overcome with grief. Her Majesty was all and forever England; the love…

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The Platinum Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

June 2, 2022
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The Platinum Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II fell on February 6th, when much was said and written about her life of devotion, service, and love; of the light…

The Church of Englishness

August 9, 2021
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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…

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Harry and Meghan were indeed married before their wedding ‘spectacle’

March 9, 2021
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"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…

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Wales lockdown isn’t only absurd; it denies freedom of religion

October 26, 2020
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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’

September 24, 2020
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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…

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The United Kingdom is no longer a Constitutional Monarchy

September 24, 2019
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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?

March 5, 2019
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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…

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Catholic Herald calls for disestablishment of the Church of England

October 4, 2018
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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

August 31, 2017
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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!

February 6, 2017
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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

January 22, 2017
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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

December 28, 2016
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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

June 24, 2016
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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

April 21, 2016
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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?

November 5, 2015
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"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

September 10, 2015
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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!

September 9, 2015
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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

May 27, 2015
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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…