Over the weekend, The Times had a big exclusive about “Bill of Little Faith”: Prince William and his “quiet” Christian faith. The exclusive was pretty wild – it featured lengthy comments from one of William’s senior aides about Bill’s “quiet faith” and his renewed energy towards the Church of England, especially now that there’s a new Archbishop of Canterbury. You see, William blames his lack of church-going and his years-long ambivalence about religion on the fact that the previous Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, gave religious counsel to Prince Harry and Meghan in the lead-up to their wedding (which Welby officiated). William was, by all accounts, a decades-long agnostic because his brother got religious counseling. Take that, Harry!! Anyway, William’s newfound performative faith isn’t going over very well in religious circles. Reverend Marcus Walker told the Mail, “God will find William by the time he is on the throne…He knows his duties and his responsibilities. Hopefully there’s a long time before he is Supreme Governor of the Church of England.” LOL that’s the churchy equivalent of “god help us all when this idiot is king.” Well, royal biographer Robert Hardman also decided to write a new column about William’s bullsh-t faith: “William’s expression of his ‘quiet faith’ is not a Damascene flash, but he has a clear-headed grasp of reality.”
Back in 1994, there was trepidation within the Church of England after Prince Charles told an ITV documentary that, when the day came, he wanted to be a ‘defender of faith’ as well as ‘Defender of the Faith’. How far, nervous clergy wondered, would King Charles III want to go?
Fast forward three decades and the concern of the C of E establishment – until now – has been whether the current Prince of Wales thinks about the church at all. So there will be a sigh of relief following yesterday’s affirmation that a religious flame does indeed burn within. Asked by the Daily Mail if the Prince believes in God, the response from Kensington Palace last night was unequivocal: ‘Of course.’
That the question even needed to be asked is a reflection of mounting concerns within Anglican circles that Prince William lacks the enthusiasm of his father and his late grandmother for the church of which he will one day be Supreme Governor.
Prince William is an intensely private man and, like most of us, wants to keep his faith to himself. Nonetheless, these latest words feel significant and encouraging. As the aide explained to The Sunday Times, the Prince wants to draw ‘a line in the sand’, adding, ‘It’s really important’ that questions over his commitment to the Church are ‘cleared up’.
Those questions have been circulating since they were raised two years ago in my book, Charles III: The Inside Story, and in the Daily Mail. Back then, I wrote that Prince William was, in the words of a senior aide, ‘not instinctively comfortable in a faith environment’. Like the majority of lukewarm Anglicans, he did not like attending Church beyond high days and holidays and was ‘a modern young man’ who ‘gets embarrassed by certain aspects of ceremonial and religion’. However, I was assured he would fulfil his constitutional duties.
Having spoken to the same people yesterday, I am assured this position is unchanged. Prince William has not been visited by a flash of light like St Paul on the road to Damascus. However, his latest statement, ahead of this week’s important moment for the Church of England, shows two things. First, that he wants to reassure the doubters that he fully grasps the role and importance of the Church.
Second, it shows that he is moving up a gear in his preparations for the Throne. Prince William has zero wish to shoulder his destiny any sooner than he absolutely has to. However, in seeking to develop a rapport with the new Archbishop – ‘in my own way’ – he is showing a clear-headed grasp of reality.
‘A modern young man’ who ‘gets embarrassed by certain aspects of ceremonial and religion’ – William is simply uncomfortable in his own skin and he cannot fathom the idea of people actually taking comfort in religious rituals. Overall, it seems like the Times piece was met with relief by royalists and royal reporters, but not clergy or religious figures. Royalists take every performative gesture at face value, and they’re fine with the angry egg merely paying lip service to the Church of England while simultaneously embodying zero Christian values. That’s why religious figures are like “wait, what is he actually saying here?” Wait until the Scooter King starts banning family members from church though! That will be a hoot and a half. QEII and King Charles have always (correctly) refused to ban wayward family members or political enemies from church services. Bill of Little Faith is going to create an Excel doc of all of the people he’s going to personally ban from church though, starting with his brother. “Harry can’t come to our father’s funeral, I BANNED HIM FROM CHURCH!”
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
