The next monarch should participate in a multi-faith inauguration service as part of the Coronation, the Dean of Westminster, the Very Rev Wesley Carr, has proposed.
While the crowning should still take place in Westminster Abbey and follow an Anglican rite, the new king or queen could receive the blessings and prayers of leaders of other faiths in a second act of worship, he suggested.
The monarch should also be publicly acclaimed by "the people", in the form of MPs, to reflect modern democracy in Britain, said the Dean, who could have a lead role in planning the next Coronation.
Dr Carr's proposals, made in a lecture in the Abbey on Monday, would represent a radical departure from the Queen's Coronation in 1953 and will re-ignite the debate over the shape of the next one.
His remarks will carry great weight with the organisers of the ceremony because of the historic role played by Deans of Westminster in the event. Traditionalists will argue, however, that the ceremony should remain largely unchanged from 50 years ago.
The Prince of Wales originally raised the prospect of the involvement of non-Christian religions such as Islam and Judaism when he said he wanted to be known as "defender of faith" rather than "defender of the faith." A draft Home Office report on religious discrimination two years ago suggested that the Prince of Wales could be crowned king in a multi-faith inauguration service rather than the 1,000-year-old coronation ceremony, though this was later toned down.
Dr Carr, who is known as a moderniser, said in his lecture on the spiritual dimensions of the Establishment that the coronation service was rewritten every time to reflect changes in society.
He rejected the idea that Christian denominations other than the Church of England should be involved in the actual anointing in oil and crowning of the monarch in the Abbey, but suggested that a further ceremony should take place later in the Palace of Westminster.
Dr Carr, who made headlines in 1997 when he sacked the Abbey organist Dr Martin Neary in a dispute which embroiled the Queen, has studied aspects of the monarchy, and has written about the aftermath of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, whose funeral he conducted.
Lord St John of Fawsley, the former Conservative Party Leader of the House and an expert on the constitution, said:" I see no problem in representatives of other Churches and faiths taking part in the coronation but I don't think you need all that nonsense."