Crowds have gathered outside one of Sydney’s oldest Anglican churches to meet King Charles III – the defender of the faith of the Church of England in the United Kingdom – and Queen Camilla.
After a rest day on Saturday, it is their Majesties’ first public event since they arrived in Australia on Friday night for a four-day visit, King Charles’ first as reigning monarch.
Royals super fan Lynton Martin waits eagerly as the King Charles and Queen Camilla attend a church service at St Thomas Anglican Church.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos
Their Majesties will attend the 10.30am service at St Thomas’ Anglican Church in North Sydney. The service will be officiated by the Archbishop of Sydney, the Most Reverend Kanishka Raffel.
Before being crowned king, The Anglican Journal reported that King Charles mused that if he actually made it to his Coronation Day he might prefer to swear support of all the mainstream religions by adjusting his title from “Defender of the Faith” to “Defender of Faith”.
“‘The’ faith, of course, is the Church of England of which, constitutionally, King Charles is the temporal leader. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the spiritual leader, whoever he or she might be at any point,” said the publication.
