Monarch Faith Role 'Should Stay'

September 15, 2007

Author: Staff Writer

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6996112.stm

Prince Charles should not become defender of all faiths rather than just Christianity when he becomes King, the Archbishop of Canterbury has insisted.

Dr Rowan Williams also said his coronation should be a Christian rather than a multi-faith service.

In a wide-ranging interview with the Daily Telegraph he described Britain as a "broken society" and said urgent action was needed by the government.

He also called for the abortion law to be tightened in the UK.

The archbishop forthrightly rejected any change for Prince Charles in the function adopted by his ancestor Henry VIII as defender of the Christian faith when he becomes titular head of the Church of England.

The Prince of Wales first expressed a wish to become "Defender of Faith" rather than "Defender of the Faith" in an interview in 1994.