British people urged to swear allegiance to the king

AFP | London

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com    

All Britons will be called on to swear allegiance to King Charles III at his coronation, an oath hitherto reserved for British nobility, in a move that has upset anti-royalists.

The office of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, who will lead the coronation ceremony on May 6 at Westminster Abbey, announced that the traditional “Homage of Peers” -- during which representatives of the nobility kneel before the king and pledge allegiance to him -- would be scrapped.

Instead, the ceremony will include a “Homage of the People”, with the archbishop calling on all people in the United Kingdom and other places where King Charles is the head of state to swear allegiance.

The archbishop will call on “all persons of goodwill in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and of the other realms and the territories to make their homage, in heart and voice, to their undoubted king, defender of all”.

The order of service will read: “All who so desire, in the abbey, and elsewhere, say together: I swear that I will pay true allegiance to Your Majesty, and to your heirs and successors according to law. So help me God.”