by The Laird o’Thistle
April 15 2011
With the royal wedding fast approaching on April 29 it would be folly not to write something relating to it this month.That said, I am mindful of two things as I sit down at my computer. First is that fact that this column will appear during what Christians call “Holy Week”, the annual commemoration of the events of the last week of Jesus’ earthly life culminating with the “paschal feast” of Easter on April 24. Second, I have been fascinated by this week’s emerging story that the soon-to-be Princess William of Wales (or whatever she ends up being called) was confirmed as a communicant member of the Church of England at St. James’ Palace on March 10 by the Bishop of London, Richard Chartres.
The facts seem simple enough. The Princess-to-be was confirmed at St. James Palace, with her parents, sister, brother, and fiancée in attendance. The accounts I have seen thus far do not specify whether the rite took place in the historic Chapel Royal within the palace proper, or the nearby Queen’s Chapel, or elsewhere in the palace. If it took place in the Chapel Royal it would be particularly notable, since that is where Princess Diana’s body lay in repose prior to her funeral in 1997.It is also where Queen Victoria was married to Prince Albert in 1840, where George V and Queen Mary were wed in 1893, and where Princess Beatrice was baptized in 1988.
Various published accounts quote sources close to Ms. Middleton as saying that her confirmation was undertaken as part of her “personal journey” into faith, and not simply as a pro forma ritual undertaken because of the royal family’s particular role in the Church of England. I’ve no reason to doubt that assertion, which in itself is somewhat remarkable. This is not an age in which the generation of William and Catherine’s peers are noted for their religious interest. It is, in fact, a time in which the Church of England is widely seen as imploding into itself, with fewer and fewer people bothering to turn up. Not surprisingly, then, more than a few of the media reports reflect a degree of skepticism, or even incredulity, at the step Catherine has taken.
The Middleton family’s religious heritage appears to have tended toward nonconformity across the generations.While Catherine was baptized into the Church of England as an infant, her great-grandparents were wed in a Unitarian church, and the family tree stretches back to ejected Puritan clergy in the 17th century. That said, if there is a particular religious influence that has come to bear on her “journey” at this point, it may well lie in the bishop with whom she took counsel in preparation, who presided at the ceremony, and who will preach the sermon at the wedding on April 29.
The Right Reverend Richard John Carew Chartres is the 132nd Bishop of London, and the third ranking official in the Church of England after the Archbishops of Canterbury and York. A friend of the Prince of Wales since their student days at Cambridge, Bishop Chartres served as Chaplain to the late former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Runcie. (Runcie performed the wedding of Charles and Diana in 1981, wearing a stunning silver cope and mitre that almost rivaled the bride’s dress!) Along with his position as Bishop of London (since 1995) Chartres is also Dean of the Chapels Royal and holds various other ecclesiastical and civil offices including that of Privy Counsellor to H.M. the Queen. He shares two major areas of interest with his good friend the Prince of Wales. He is the Church of England’s official liaison with the Eastern Orthodox churches, and like Prince Charles, he has undertaken spiritual retreats at Orthodox monasteries. He is also deeply committed to the environmental cause and leads an effort in the Church of England to sharply reduce the church’s carbon footprint over the next generation.He is very much a traditionalist in other ways, and notably a few years ago took to task one of his clergy whose service of blessing for two gay clergy tread a bit too near the line of being a “wedding” (which is not permitted by the C. of E.).
Chartres came into Christianity from a non-churched background.His parents reportedly turned away from the church after their second son was born with severe handicaps. Bishop Chartres, nonetheless, attests the way in which his younger brother, who died in his 20s, influenced his own faith journey, as he observed the joy evident in his life. In a recent sermon (2009) the bishop referred to what he sees as a possible emergent “post-secular” age, in which older ways of thinking are transformed by a new and more holistic delving into the mysteries of being in the face of the challenges of our time. He describes the great crisis of the 21st century as concerning the “anti-trinity” of the denial of God, the despoiling of the earth, and the diminishment of humanity. The affinity between these views and those of the Prince of Wales are clear.
Beyond the bishop’s friendship with Prince Charles, there is a longtime personal relationship between Bishop Chartres and Prince William. He presided at William’s confirmation at Windsor in 1997, on one of the last occasions when Prince Charles and Princess Diana were seen together. He delivered the homily at Princess Diana’s funeral and served as one of the executors of her estate. He reportedly also provided counsel to William and Harry in the wake of their mother’s death. Although little is known about Prince William’s views on religion, it would seem likely that Bishop Chartres has been an important formative influence on him… and thus, perhaps, on Catherine.
Religion is something of an occupational hazard in the royal world. Part of the job of being a European royal, at least, is to show up at lots of church services and religious events. In Britain, the linkage is even more pronounced, with the Sovereign serving as “Supreme Governor” of the Church of England and holding this historic title (originally bestowed by the Pope) of “Defender of the Faith.” (Although, as I’ve often noted, in the Church of Scotland the Queen is simply a communing member, bound by oath to protect the Kirk but otherwise no different from any other sinner.)
The current senior members of the British royal family do take their faith seriously. Although King George V and Queen Mary were reportedly concerned that the then Duke of York and his wife (i.e. George VI and the late Queen Mother) did not conduct daily family prayers in the traditional manner, the Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret were raised in an atmosphere of sincere Christian belief which the Queen continues to practice and espouse. Prince Philip is reputed to have maintained a deep attachment to the Orthodox faith. Prince Charles’ religious and spiritual interests are well known. On the other side of William’s family, his late grandmother Frances Shand-Kyd was a devout convert to Catholicism, and Princess Diana was rumoured to have held a strong interest in Catholicism.
All this being said, the religious and spiritual orientations of the rising generation do not simply reproduce those of earlier generations.Clearly, William and Catherine (along with a vast number of their contemporaries) have different views on the issue of cohabitation before marriage than those of ages past. To whatever degree Prince William and Ms. Middleton are sincerely seeking, it is not unlikely that they might find themselves in a similar stance as that of Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling. Ms. Rowling has described her own religious journey as, “the struggle to keep believing.” (From a “Today Show” NBC interview with Meredith Vieira, July 26, 2007) In such a journey, the accompaniment of spiritual advisors like Bishop Chartres may be a critical factor, but the decisive factor will always be the choices made by William and Catherine themselves.
“And there’s another country, I’ve heard of long ago,
Most dear to them that love her, most great to them that know;
We may not count her armies, we may not see her King;
Her fortress is the faithful heart, her pride is suffering;
And soul by soul and silently her shining bounds increase,
Her ways are ways of gentleness and all her paths are peace.”
— Hymn by Cecil Spring-Rice, chosen by Lady Diana Spencer to be sung at her wedding to Prince Charles in 1981.
Yours aye,
Ken Cuthbertson