Prince William's Christian Journey

[BoxingHare]

Here we go, another article about that 'quiet faith' that has been completely silent until now!

As one of the btl comments suggests, is there some rebranding going on???

Surely not!

Prince William’s Christian journey https://share.google/6ANWHkV5p0o0qj1TV

Yes, God was mentioned a few times during the coronation… and? 🤷🏼‍♀️

You said “he’ll justify his position by claiming that he’s been appointed by God to rule over us,” but that’s not how the modern monarchy works. British monarchs don’t operate on the idea of divine right anymore. It’s a ceremonial role, and their authority comes from Parliament and the constitution, not from being chosen by God.

It’s basic history.

No I wouldn’t be particularly offended. Partly because I don’t go in for being offended, but mostly because I know you’re saying it because you don’t understand how anyone can have a moral and philosophical objection to the Monarchy. That’s fine-I don’t understand how people can admire them. Other people's philosophical positions are often incomprehensible to those who don’t hold them.

No I wouldn’t. But I haven’t called anyone a peasant. I understand the derivation of the word under discussion, but it no longer means that- it means someone who shows undue deference, regardless of social class or occupation. Language evolves. There are plenty of examples.

Church threads, and Royal family threads, let alone the combination, causes some people to wet their pants forget their manners on Mumsnet.

No it doesn’t, stop making shit up to dig yourself out of an embarrassing hole, from the Cambridge Dictionary

A peasant is
a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or small-scale farmer, historically associated with low social status, little education, and feudal land tenure. They often lived in rural areas, paying rent or labor to landlords. Modern usage sometimes employs the term as a disparaging, informal term for uncultured people

• Informal (Disparaging):
• "Joe's a real peasant" (used to mean rude or uncultured).
• Cambridge Dictionary

The coronation was a religious ceremony. Faced with the inevitable, William is publicly reaffirming his faith for when the time comes in order to keep things running as they always have. This is his public persona. His private beliefs on the subject we will never know.

So are you walking back your original point, that he’d “justify his position by claiming he was appointed by God to rule over us”, given that the divine right of kings isn’t a thing anymore?

I think its implied.

When I see someone taking oaths, saying prayers and kissing the bible I take that to mean that they are doing what they think their God wants and making a point of displaying this belief publicly.

The result is that it makes it difficult to question or change anything which I believe is the point.

If he were to go around saying, as you put it, that he “was appointed by God,” he wouldn’t just be hinting at personal belief, he’d be stating it as fact, and that would quickly become a far bigger issue than his private faith. He cannot claim divine appointment as a basis for authority; his power comes from Parliament and the constitution. History makes that clear. The last king to insist on divine right was removed from the throne, and his predecessor paid for it with his life.

I agree that when people express their faith publicly, it reflects devotion and belief in God. But praying, taking oaths, or showing reverence (like kissing the Bible) are acts of faith and solemnity, not declarations of divine appointment. They show personal belief, not a claim to authority granted by God. Do you apply that interpretation only to the royal family, or to all Christians?

As for William (or anyone else’s personal beliefs) I’ll leave it with Elizabeth I (who was also the first to use the title of Supreme Governor of the Church of England): “I have no desire to make windows into men’s souls”. We shouldn’t be policing private thoughts and beliefs.

I think the word 'peasant' would be used in Britain in 2026, mainly as a derogatory term. I am not sure if the word 'contadino', in Italian, would carry the same more-or-less derogatory weight. I suppose it's a bit like me thinking to myself, "Oh, the same neurotic witterers are still calling people names because they've been to Sandringham 48 times in their lives, two of those times on a Christmas Day."
I come from a rural background, as did one of my school-friends. We knew land-owning farmers and farm-workers who grafted together in the fields, doing hard manual work. The ones who were the farmers were also managers of their farms so they had to have a good bit of intelligence to do that but I do think that there's a tendency for people who don't have any connection with the land to see any country-born person as 'thick'.
The school-friend and I went on to 'further education' after 'A' levels. Massive mechanisation has come to farming in our lifetimes and there are very few people working in fields now. A few years ago she said to me, "We're the last of the peasants", meaning I think, that we were old enough to remember the older ways and that we will soon be gone. I don't think SHE meant it in a nasty way, rather almost in a proud way.
Well, Easter Monday, so I'd better get out there and set some tates afore nightfall. Translated from 'the peasant' that means that as it's Easter Monday and I had better go outside and plant some potatoes before it becomes dark.

Journey to Christianity? Are there rules?
I know someone who was baptised into the Church of England when she was a baby.
I know of a person between 50 and 60, who was recently baptised into the Baptist Church.
I used to think that the ritual was all a bit unnecessary but as I've grown older I think that people find rituals very comforting. Come to the memorial service in November and if you would like, come up and light a candle in memory of one person or many people.
I don't know where Prince William is on his Christian Journey, if he's on one.
I might write to him and ask him if he thinks the whole thing is a big hoax and that one day a long time ago Mr. Hoaxer said, "I'm going to write a story as if I'm four different people called Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. It'll be about the same person but I'll make the stories a little bit different because no four witnesses ever tell exactly the same story. Maybe I'll fool the world."

Ok peasant!

You'd expect that in a Christian ritual.

It doesn't mean that the people taking part or the peoplebwatching believe in the God being mentioned. Like a church wedding.

Indeed.

A key message of the Bible is that it is never too late to come back to God through genuine repentance, humility, and faith. In the story of the Pharisee and the tax collector, the tax collector is accepted because he humbles himself and asks for mercy as a sinner, while the Pharisee is rejected for his pride and self righteousness.

He's performing the ritual, not affirming a faith. Any more than the church-wedding bride in white is stating she's a virgin who believes in God. If you can believe that a non-believer can marry in white and make vows to a God she doesn't believe in, you can believe the Heir can tog up, turn up and do the ritual without us all having to believe he is demonstrating his faith.

The Archbishop of Canterbury and thebother church prople might actuslly really believe that is the case - they've already signed up to a crazy belief system, so are practiced in believing - but the rest of us aren't fooled and accept the ritual ( but carp at the cost)

You know nothing of my thoughts and frankly I would not bother sharing them with you anyway!
as for your morals !
anyone who feels comfortable attacking a woman with cancer has no business attempting to take any moral high ground.

@EmpressSisi

’god was mentioned a few times’

Lol

Do you know the difference between a coronation and an inauguration? Royalists know deep down that the coronation is an utter sham and never more so than with the prospect of empty suit William suddenly finding ‘quiet religion’- so royalists try to assert that is just a political tick box . Democracy even!

Coronations are ALL religion .The pantomime of a coronation is in no way related to a political role .

The Windsors -pedophile protectors that they are - steal gravitas from religion in order to try to shore up their position . Anointed and ‘handed the country ‘( read the text ) in order to convey that some higher power is agreeing that this is their right and a lifelong position. No questions to be asked .

William will no doubt bill the country for his sham and it will be another massive blow to the Windsors’ long term position.
Good .

@Ukisgaslit

Well said. We are the only European country who goes for such a huge lavish spectacle. Crowns on velvet cushions with their own guards front and centre driven in posh cars, holy oil on a hairy chest with a vest, waving to the masses with crowns on from a balcony.
Do have your coronation William, sign the necessary papers in a room as a solemn occasion and no £72million cost to the taxpayer.
Pay for it yourself out your billions of you want that

@CurlewKate

You are right . How anyone can continue to support the Windsors with what we now know about their extensive and long term links to the likes of Epstein is beyond me .

Andrew is not the only offender - I believe many of the Windsors have links to Epstein and his associates . Not just ‘donations’ but gifts in kind - eg ultra polluting mega yacht holidays ( also are those gifts declared ? )

Yes @jeffgoldblum some posters seem to have very short memories. They pretend they are righteous people when they have showed the murky underside.

I recall someone else being very upset about the coronation and mocking the traditions of one of the oldest monarchies in the world. Here you are talking about hairy chests and oil. Is it only the British monarchy you mock or do others with as or even more elaborate customs and traditions receive the same?

I am British and I'm on a primarily British posters forum talking about our British coronation.
If I wanted to talk about Asian or other rituals they have, I would find a forum that was relevant to that area of the world.

Lots of British people find the massive cost and rigmarole of the Coronation galling, so I'm not sure who 'someone else' is
There's lots of us, you only have to read all sorts of social media in the way of other forums. I'm not unusual !

Can you answer the question though? Pretend it's a forum where all nationalities post. The topic is about ceremony and royalty. These are not Asian countries - in fact the Queen features on the robes of one.

No, I will not answer your demand 😅. Why do I have to pretend I'm on a forum with other nationalities royals and rituals being discussed. I'm not. I'm British, on a British forum talking about OUR monarchy and not pretending I'm anywhere else

@corblimeyguvnr

No the topic is William and religion

Reference to other monarchies - note many of the remaining monarchies worldwide who persist with coronations are absolute monarchies - is irrelevant .