09 April 2005

Wedding invalidates Charles' future as governor of the CofE?

"The Queen will not be at the civil service but will be at St George's chapel and will host a reception in the castle."
In fact, ealier in the week or last weekend the Queen clarified her position by saying that she didn't see it as compatible with her position as the governor of the Church of England to attend the wedding. Presumably she means that the circumstances which necessitated a registry office wedding rather than a Church wedding made it impolitic for her to attend as it might be interpreted as an implied endorsement by the Church's governor of a position that is contrary to the current policy and teaching of the church.

If that is so then we should note that even so there are interesting implications for that position. In effect, if it is "incompatible with her role as Supreme Governor of the Church to attend a civil marriage ceremony, particularly one involving the heir to the throne"then it should be incompatible for the person who is one of the two main actors and subjects of that ceremony to become the supreme governor of the Church of England. Of course I can't imagine she would say so and it may be that she hasn't actually gone as far as that in her thinking, and of course she's in a 'damned if you do and damned if you don't' sort of position, but it does seem to me to be a clear implication of the action and rationale for it.
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Royal wedding begins

No comments:

"Spend and tax" not "tax and spend"

 I got a response from my MP which got me kind of mad. You'll see why as I reproduce it here. Apologies for the strange changes in types...