How YOU can pledge allegiance to King Charles on Saturday: Millions watching ceremony on TV will be invited to join vow – but spoilsport anti-monarchy critics say they will refuse to join in
- The Archbishop of Canterbury will invite the public to make the pledge together
- But republican groups and a minority of Britons say they will refuse to join in
- Follow all the latest Coronation and royal news on MailOnline’s live blog here
How the British public can swear ‘true allegiance’ to King Charles III during Saturday’s Coronation ceremony was revealed last night as anti-monarchy critics say they will refuse to declare their support for the Crown.
The ‘Homage Of The People’ will replace the traditional Homage Of The Peers during the ceremony, which saw members of the aristocracy lining up to pledge their support for the monarchy and its heirs.
Lambeth Palace said it was hoped the change to the historic service will result in a ‘great cry around the nation and around the world of support for the King’ from those watching on television, online or gathered in the open air at big screens.
On Sunday a Cambridge Professor who has repeatedly criticised the royal family was among left-leaning Britons who say they will not pledge their allegiance to King Charles when asked to do so by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Professor Priyamvada Gopal compared those who take part in the pledge to ‘peasants’ who will be ‘paying allegiance to Rule by Wealth, and to all who profiteer and siphon off money from the public weal, according to law or not.’
The public will be asked to swear their ‘true allegiance’ to the King and his heirs during the Coronation
Professor Priyamvada Gopal has compared those who take part in the pledge to ‘peasants’ who will be ‘paying allegiance to Rule by Wealth, and to all who profiteer and siphon off money from the public weal, according to law or not’
The ceremony on May 6 will see King Charles III crowned, along with his wife the Queen Consort.
The public will be invited by Archbishop Justin Welby to join in a chorus from home and say: ‘I swear that I will pay true allegiance to Your Majesty, and to your heirs and successors according to law. So help me God.’
Only the Prince of Wales will now formally declare his loyalty to his father, replacing a time-honoured tradition in a bid to be more inclusive.
Anti-royalists are airing their anger less than a week before King Charles III’s Coronation over the moment millions of people around the world will be invited to take part in a pledge of allegiance to the monarch during the ceremony.
Professor Gopal is just one of a minority of Britons who have made scathing remarks about the request, and she has previously criticised the monarchy for not talking about the Crown’s ties to slavery.
But republicans have been left fuming at the optional part of the service, slamming the request as ‘offensive’ and ‘tone-deaf’.
Writing on Twitter, Professor Gopal said on Sunday: ‘Peasants, you are asked to chant: ‘I swear that I will pay true allegiance to Your Majesty, and to your heirs and successors according to law. So help me God.’ Translation below.’
Her translation of the pledge read: ‘I swear to continue paying allegiance to Rule by Wealth, and to all who profiteer and siphon off money from the public weal, according to law or not. So help me keep believing that Money is God, cupiditas forever and ever, amen’.
She continued: ‘As others have noted, swearing allegiance to Charles’ heirs is swearing allegiance not just to the loathsome William but also Andrew, the non-sweaty lawsuit settler.
‘Getting the masses to swear fealty to one of the world’s wealthiest men even as they are daily further impoverished by profiteers is really the only statement you need on the decline of Britain.’
The Professor of Postcolonial Studies at Churchill College, Cambridge, later added: ‘Appropriate that the mass oath of fealty to obscene wealth and extractive inequality will be administered by the ex-oilman archbishop.’
The liturgy – words and actions of the coronation service – were revealed to the public last night
It is not the first time she has come under fire for her outspoken views on the Royal Family. In 2021 she was asked about having called the monarchy a ‘white supremacist organisation’ in the past.
It was ‘an institution invested in whiteness … and where whites dominate,’ she replied.
‘The monarchy is deeply implicated in the project of empire; a lot of what it possesses came right out of the imperial project.
‘This is not a monarchy that has ever talked about its ties to empire – or to slavery for that matter. I am not going to apologise [for saying that],’ she said.
Professor Gopal is not the only outspoken critic of the new homage.
Comedian Mitch Benn said: ‘I’m not even particularly anti-royalist and they can STILL f*** off.’
Meanwhile anti-monarchy group Republic said: ‘Asking people to swear allegiance to Charles and his heirs, means swearing allegiance to Andrew.
‘In a democracy it is the Head of State who should swear allegiance to us. This is an offensive and tone deaf gesture that holds the people in contempt.’
Other Britons also slammed the new aspect of the Coronation ceremony.
One said: ‘They probably thought they were “democratising” [the] monarchy by replacing the homage of the peers with the homage of the people! Can they get more out of touch?’
A second added: ‘Actually this homage of the people could turn out very very badly for the monarchy if the ‘people’ all just stay silent during it. I’m amazed Charles advisors let this one go through, it’s a recipe for humiliation for him.’
A third added: ‘If it were 1st April, you’d think this was a joke: public are asked to take part in a ludicrous “Homage of the People”, swearing allegiance to Charles Windsor in front of their TV during the coronation. It sounds like something out of 1984.’
Comedian and singer Mitch Benn has also declared he will not be pledging his loyalty to the King
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby will lead the nation in its homage to the new monarch
The liturgy – words and actions of the coronation service – have been revealed, having been decided upon in close consultation with the King, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Government.
The Archbishop will call upon ‘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:
‘All: I swear that I will pay true allegiance to Your Majesty, and to your heirs and successors according to law. So help me God.’
It will be followed by the playing of a fanfare.
The Archbishop of Canterbury will then say ‘God Save The King’, with all asked to respond: ‘God Save King Charles. Long Live King Charles. May The King live for ever.’
A spokesman for Lambeth Palace, the Archbishop’s office, said: ‘The Homage of the People is particularly exciting because that’s brand new.
‘That’s something that we can share in because of technological advances, so not just the people in the Abbey, but people who are online, on television, who are listening, and who are gathered in parks, at big screens and churches.
‘Our hope is at that point, when the Archbishop invites people to join in, that people wherever they are, if they’re watching at home on their own, watching the telly, will say it out loud – this sense of a great cry around the nation and around the world of support for the King.’
The words printed in the service are for ‘everyone to share in’, the spokesperson said.
Before the Homage of the People, the Archbishop of Canterbury will pay homage representing the Church of England, followed by the Prince of Wales – performing what will be the only Homage of Royal Blood.
Just as his grandfather Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh did for his wife Elizabeth II at her coronation, William will kneel before the monarch, place his hands between his father’s and vow to be his ‘liege man of life and limb’.
He will say: ‘I, William, Prince of Wales, pledge my loyalty to you and faith and truth I will bear unto you, as your liege man of life and limb. So help me God.’
The symbolic act means the heir to throne, as ‘liege man’ to the King, has a mutual obligation to the monarch.
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