Arrangements are ‘in hand’ to change ‘Queen’ to ‘King’ in the Prayer Book

Sep 16, 2022 by Jill

by Sarah Meyrick, Church Times:

A ROYAL warrant will be issued in due time to update the Book of Common Prayer to reflect the accession of King Charles III, it was confirmed this week.

The Prayer for the Queen’s Majesty will be changed, as will the Prayer for the Royal Family, which currently asks for blessings on “Charles Prince of Wales” and all the Royal Family. The response “O Lord, save the Queen” will become “O Lord, save the King.”

The warrant will be prepared by the Cabinet Office in collaboration with the Church of England. When the Queen Mother died, in 2002, it took “a couple of years” for the removal of her name to be authorised, a spokesman for the Church of England said this week. He expected that the significance of the change of monarch would mean a much shorter timescale in this instance. “Arrangements are well in hand,” he said on Monday.

In the mean time, the clergy are permitted under Canon B5 to use their discretion to make variations to the liturgy “according to particular circumstances”.

Read here