Canadian budget bill reveals change to King Charles’s title

King Charles, Canada’s head of state, will no longer include the phrase “Defender of the Faith” in his official royal title in Canada.

A change to Canada’s Royal Styles and Titles Act was first previewed in a brief mention on the final page of last month’s federal budget document, but that quick hint did not lay out exactly the new king’s full title.

The new language was revealed late Monday when the Liberal government published its notice of the Ways and Means Motion for this spring’s budget implementation bill — the legislation that actually brings into force the measures Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland announced on March 28.

The new title will read: “Charles the Third, by the Grace of God King of Canada and His other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth.”

The title for his mother as the Queen of Canada, last updated in 1985 legislation, was “Queen Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom, Canada and Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith.”

In addition to dropping the religious role, the revised title also deletes a reference to Charles as King of the United Kingdom — an update consistent with Canada’s status as an independent country among the 14 other countries that share the same monarch.

“The Parliament of Canada assents to the issue by His Majesty of His Royal Proclamation under the Great Seal of Canada establishing for Canada the following Royal Style and Titles,” the short text of the upcoming legislation reads.

Coronation happening next month

As a constitutional monarchy, Canada’s elected and appointed parliamentarians must officially approve the new wording. By including it in this implementation bill, Justin Trudeau’s government has rolled the process for enacting this revised Royal Styles and Titles Act into this spring’s budget debate.

“As we prepare for the coronation of the new monarch, a decision was made to modernize the title to bring Canada in line with other Commonwealth countries, including Australia,” said Annie Cullinan, director of communications for the King’s Privy Council, which is overseen by cabinet minister Bill Blair.

The coronation of King Charles will be held on May 6 at Westminster Abbey in London. The British monarch is also the Supreme Governor (head) of the Church of England, and the archbishop of Canterbury, the senior cleric in that church, will perform the ceremony.

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For years leading up to his accession to the throne, King Charles has expressed the view that being the head of one church is not inconsistent with respecting and defending other faiths in multicultural societies. His upcoming coronation service is expected to reflect this view with invitations to leaders from other faiths and other acknowledgements of religious diversity.

The specific phrase “Defender of the Faith” in the monarch’s royal title, which stems from a specific historical context for the British monarchy, has provoked recent debate in the United Kingdom over its continued appropriateness in modern society.

British monarchs have held the title Defender of the Faith since the 16th century, when it was first conferred to Henry VIII by Pope Leo X. That king broke away from the Catholic Church when it refused to free him to marry a second wife, Anne Boleyn, in his determination to father a male heir. With this split, he founded the Church of England.

In Canada, the head of state has no official role with any religious denomination.