Why A Bishop Crowned King Charles?

Self-Coronation History

The image on the left is of Roger II receiving the crown from Jesus Christ, and it's by Matthias Süßen. License & description available on Wikipedia. In the image on the right Joséphine kneels before Napoléon during his coronation at Notre Dame. Behind him sits Pope Pius VII. The image is in Public Domain.

King Charles III was crowned by the Archbishop of Canterbury. And the king didn’t have a problem with this arrangement. Why?

As my guest, Dr. Jaume Aurell, tells it, many monarchs have performed self-coronation. What is interesting is that they did this, perhaps defying firmly adhered-to precedence, to establish their own authority, their own supremacy, and to send a clear and visual message about their real and perceived power. Quite tellingly, as Dr. Aurell explains, generally, successors of self-crowning monarchs within the line of their dynasty did not perform self-coronation. This is perhaps because they felt secure in the legitimacy of their reign.

There is yet another historic element here. Did you know that most catholic monarchs, such as those in Spain, Italy and Germany centuries ago, did not like being crowned by a member of the clergy? However, in countries that later became protestant, monarchs readily accepted the ritual of being crowned by say… a bishop. As my guest will explain, this is because protestant kings have had more control over the church in their countries. And the case of King Charles III is a prime example of this, as he is the Supreme Governor of the Church of England.