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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Comment
Simon Jenkins

Prince William should finish what Charles started – and sever the ridiculous ties of church and state

Prince William kneels before his father, King Charles III, during the coronation ceremony inside Westminster Abbey, 6 May 2023.
‘The Daily Mail reported that Prince William found his father’s coronation service hard to take.’ William kneels before King Charles III during the coronation ceremony inside Westminster Abbey, 6 May 2023. Photograph: Gary Calton/The Observer

Once upon a time, news that the heir to the throne may decline his “supreme governorship” of the Church of England would have caused an earthquake. Bishops would have wept as theologians worried all night. Was the 1534 Reformation for nothing?

As it is, the gossip extracted in the Daily Mail from the latest royal pot-boiler suggests that Prince William does not worship much and that he found his father’s coronation service hard to take. This is hardly worth a shrug. Perhaps the prince is just a normal human being.

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