King Charles III may bring new approach to ‘Defender of the Faith’

She was true to that vow. Her devotion to “Jesus Christ, Prince of Peace” was a fundamental and defining, though sometimes overlooked, pillar of her life.

Now, as her son Charles III takes over, he has by all accounts accepted the responsibilities of his religious titles without reservation. But he will bring a markedly different personal vision of religion and spirituality to the role.

What kind of monarch will King Charles III be? Different from his mum.

“The queen was very explicit about her Christian faith, but Charles’s is of a different nature,” said Ian Bradley, professor emeritus of cultural and spiritual history at the University of St. Andrews, who has written extensively about faith and the monarchy. “His is more spiritual and intellectual. Charles is more of a ‘spiritual seeker.’ ”

While the monarch’s authority within the church is largely ceremonial, it still matters. The king will formally approve all new bishops, for example. And pronouncements of the crown, especially on something as personal as faith in God, carry a special weight.

Particularly in her later years, Queen Elizabeth II was clear about expressing her beliefs, often citing the “guiding light” of Jesus, especially in her annual televised Christmas message watched by millions of people.

Many trace her shift in tone to her Christmas address of 2000, when she said, “For me, the teachings of Christ and my own personal accountability before God provide a framework in which I try to lead my life.”

The queen was sometimes referred to as the “last true believer,” said Stephen Bates, the Guardian newspaper’s longtime, now retired, religious affairs and royal correspondent. “She is the most religious sovereign since the [Protestant] Reformation” of the 16th century, he said.

While public assertions of faith are second nature — if not required — for U.S. leaders, they are unusual in Britain, a highly secular nation, where an aide to former prime minister Tony Blair once quipped, “We don’t do God.”

“We have a kind of unease about our politicians and our leaders expressing their faith, and to some extent this extends to the monarchy,” Bradley said. “It’s seen as un-British.”

Despite declining church membership and influence in daily British life, the monarch remains a powerful church symbol; British coins feature the queen’s likeness and letters in Latin that stand for, “By the Grace of God, Queen and Defender of the Faith.”

As his mother was, Charles is a regular churchgoer and clear that his faith is Christian. In his first address to the nation, on the day after the queen died, Charles cited his “responsibility” to the Church of England, “in which my own faith is so deeply rooted.”

“In that faith, and the values it inspires, I have been brought up to cherish a sense of duty to others, and to hold in the greatest…