King Charles and Queen Camilla attended a service at St Peter's church in Wolferton on the Sandringham estate on 25 January 2026, alongside the Archbishop of Canterbury, Sarah Mullally. But a new controversy has erupted over the monarch's role, with some conservative Christians accusing him of betraying the Church of England and the constitution.
Critics accuse King Charles of betrayal
Dr Gavin Ashenden, a former chaplain to Queen Elizabeth, has claimed that the king is attempting to change the job description of the British monarch from 'defender of the faith' to the more inclusive 'protector of the space for faith within the multifaith nation'. Ashenden, who regularly appears on GB News to lament the 'woke takeover' of the church, said: 'While the monarch cannot technically be a traitor, we might take refuge in grammar and find that the verb carries our feelings even if the noun cannot. Parliament and the oath it presented to the king as a condition of being crowned are betrayed; the Church of England is betrayed. The constitution is betrayed; Anglicans are specifically betrayed. And Christians in general will legitimately feel abandoned at the very least. Some of them too will feel betrayed.'
Ciarán Kelly, director of the Christian Institute, added: 'Christianity, not some multifaith mishmash, is the bedrock of our nation's laws and culture. This latest move seems designed to convey the message that Christianity is just one religion among many, and that all are equally valid. They are not.'
King's long-standing position on faith
The offending line appears in the latest edition of the annual sovereign grant report. However, the king first expressed a preference for being 'defender of faith' rather than 'defender of the faith' in a 1994 interview with Jonathan Dimbleby. At that time, the grand secretary of the Grand Orange Lodge of Scotland fumed: 'There is no place for Charles imposing his woolly religious beliefs or disbeliefs on the United Kingdom.' Even the then-Archbishop of York, John Habgood, warned it could 'cause the British constitution to unravel'.
Queen Elizabeth II later articulated a similar position in a speech at Lambeth Palace, stating that the role of the Church of England 'is not to defend Anglicanism to the exclusion of other religions', but rather to 'create an environment for other faith communities and indeed people of no faith to live freely'. Dr Ashenden was one of her chaplains at the time, yet there is no record of him calling her a traitor.
Historical context of multifaith approach
The multifaith approach that upsets conservative Christians is itself a product of the Protestant Reformation. Before Martin Luther's 95 theses, countries enforced only Catholicism. Once competition arose between Catholicism and Protestantism, rulers had to choose which to support. In Germany, they allowed each region's ruler to follow their own conscience. Later, the separation of church and state became enshrined in the US constitution, and Britain has long functioned as a secular state in practice, despite religious coronation services.
Ravi Holy, vicar of Wye in Kent and a standup comedian, argues that the king's position is right and just. He writes: 'To extend my soft drink analogy: there are no longer just two colas on the market; we also have Sprite and Fanta, Dr Pepper and Tango (other brands are available) and, of course, there are those who eschew all kinds of fizzy pop – and they should be free to do so. So, in the same spirit of generosity and tolerance that the Germans displayed in the 16th century, we need to create a society in which people of all faiths and none can live together in the 21st century. This, it seems to me, is precisely what the king, like the queen before him, is attempting to do. So, as far as I'm concerned, he's no traitor, he's 100% faithful. It's the critics I worry about.'
