As many people know, we don’t have a king here in the United States.
Not yet, anyway.
For some reason, we gave up the benefits of having a king back in 1776. Not everyone agreed with that decision, but the mainstream media and the gun lobby were able to sway public opinion.
So — for the time being, at least — Americans who want to pledge allegiance to a king, need to choose a king from some other country. Probably, you would choose King Charles III, since he’s one of the few available kings who speak proper English.
King Charles is not ‘completely’ a king, however. Not yet, anyway.
Charles took over as interim head of the family ‘Royalty’ business, when his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, passed away last September.
Normally, when you’re a king, you wear a crown while you oversee the franchise. But that requires a coronation.
So the first order of business — placing a crown on Charles’ head — will take place this coming Saturday, May 6 at Westminster Abbey. Which is a church.
This sort of thing — an important government shindig taking place in a church — might be frowned on, by Americans who have ideas about the separation of church and state. (Fortunately for those of us living in southwestern Colorado, we’re represented in Congress by Lauren Boebert, who has her own opinions about the ‘church and state separation’ nonsense, and who has characterized her recent election victory as an act of God.)
According to the British media, the folks organizing the May 6 coronation have invited King Charles’ new subjects to cry out their ‘true allegiance’ to His Majesty, from wherever they might be watching the streamed event.
In a pub, perhaps? Or sitting with their spouse on the living room sofa, watching the ‘telly’?
The oath:
“I swear that I will pay true allegiance to Your Majesty, and to your heirs and successors according to law. So help me God.”
That’s what millions of British subjects will be reciting on May 6, when prompted. (Millions of other subjects will no doubt decline to recite pledge, based on a recent British poll showing 25% of respondents opining that Britain would have a brighter future if the monarchy were abolished.)
Apparently, this scheduled “homage of the people” is kind of a new thing. It’s been almost exactly 70 years since the last coronation at Westminster Abbey — the coronation of Elizabeth II — and back then, most people didn’t have TVs or iPhones on which to watch the event. So the only people who actually swore homage to Elizabeth were inside the church. Which was not really that many, I’m guessing.
I’m not suggesting, of course, that the people outside the church didn’t feel a deep sense of loyalty. But they were not able, back in 1953, to post a video of themselves, swearing allegiance, on their social media accounts.
The people who planned the event were certainly not giving priority to Americans who want to watch the coronation, because the ceremony is scheduled to start at 4am Mountain Time. It should last about two hours — there are lots of old, jewel-encrusted items besides the crown involved in the ceremony — and then King Charles and Camilla (the Queen Consort) will climb into the Gold State Coach, a gilded, horse-drawn carriage that is more than 200 years old, for a 30-minute ride back to Buckingham Palace.
The Coach has no shock absorbers, so hopefully the London streets are in better shape that the ones here in Pagosa.
There’s probably little potential harm, if people over here on this side of the Atlantic also want to recite the “homage of the people” on May 6.
Since we don’t, yet, have a king of our own, to pledge allegiance to.
Maybe someday?
Underrated writer Louis Cannon grew up in the vast American West, although his ex-wife, given the slightest opportunity, will deny that he ever grew up at all.