Philosophers Café: The Crowning of King Charles III: Thinking about Monarchy & Republicanism, Pluralism & Christian Culture

Canada and a shrinking Commonwealth have a new king. Charles III was crowned on Saturday, May 6th , in a ritual stretching back to medieval times. As a young boy I watched the crowning of Elizabeth II on the first television in my neighbourhood in Edmonton. There are similarities which, for many, appear archaic and obscure; and differences, strikingly illuminating about the change in society since 1953. We will consider several aspects of the “liturgy of coronation” and think about what its ancient voice has to say and about the innovations and what they portend. What is the purpose of a democratic monarch? Does it still have any significance in light of the global move toward republicanism? Join us in thinking together across a thousand-year-old tradition