King Charles III was criticized by Queen Elizabeths former chaplain, Gavin Ashenden, recently, who claimed the monarch is “deserting Christians” and abandoned his oath as “Defender of the Faith.”
This came after “Defender of the Faith” was replaced in this years Sovereign Grant Annual Report in June with “His Majesty is Supreme Governor of the Church of England and protects the space for Faith within the multi-faith nation.”
Royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams told Fox News Digital the “new wording” has “caused considerable controversy.”
He added that it would have been better to leave “Defender of the Faith in the text after Supreme Governor of the Church of England and then add a phrase that recognised Britain as multi-faith which should be included. Whoever wrote protects the space for Faith within the multi-faith nation is no credit to the English language as this phrase is both weak and woke.”
Christopher Andersen, author of the new biography “Kate!” noted that Charles has always had a “powerful ecumenical streak.”
“As far back as his student days at Cambridge, Charles in the 1970s was showing a strong interest in what eastern religions had to offer, particularly Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism,” he said.
And while Elizabeth was “very respectful” of other religions’ customs, “she never wavered when it came to her Christian beliefs,” he said.
Andersen explained, “Charles is just a different sort of animal. The current king has long believed that no one religion has all the answers. He also knows that if he is going to have a big-tent reign, then he can’t leave non-Christians standing out in the cold â he’s going to have to let Muslims and Hindus and Jews and Buddhists inside.”
And its not just Charles, he noted.
“The new generation of royals isn’t quite so sure about how to react to the whole Defender of the Faith thing,” Andersen said. “A particularly telling moment came when William enrolled at Eton College in 1995.”
With cameras rolling, William sat at a desk filling out enrollment papers.
“When it came time to fill out the space marked Religion, the future Head of the Church of England looked up at his father quizzically and asked what he should put down
