In a sense, the critics were - after a Pickwickian fashion - right. Archbishop Cormac Murphy-O’Connor was concerned for consist-ency of religious practice in his own Communion, as no doubt zealous Muslims are for the coherence of their Umma, or community of the faithful. But because the reaction of the Church was to a signal transgression of a prime principle of a spiritual civilisation formed by the historic Christianity of the English people, the Church was protesting in the name of the historic moral ethos of this island, which politicians should respect, if not serve.

In another sense, the critics were altogether wrong, since in a complementary perspective the Church’s opposition was entirely without self-regard. Catholics objected to the inflation of state power vis-à-vis civil society, with its attendant threat to other groups — and, for that matter, individuals — seeking to pursue charitable ends that could only benefit the social whole. On both counts, the case was an instructive one, as others, notably Evangelicals, were quick to notice.

There is a prima facie contradiction here, since England remains a Christian state, albeit a decayed example of the genre. I advert for the third time to the coronation ritual, since it is the clearest, though by no means the only, manifestation of the continuing sacrality of the public order. In this connection, the retention by the Church of England of its established status is an essential requirement if the nation as a whole is to retain narrative continuity with its own origins, which are found in the baptismal covenant reflected in the laws of the Anglo-Saxon kings.