The new archbishop of Canterbury opposes Prince Charles' notion that the monarch should be a "defender of faith," rather than the traditional title of "defender of the faith," meaning the Church of England.
"I'm glad that the Prince of Wales takes faith communities as seriously as he does, but the actual title, there is an historical, constitutional framework for it which you don't just change by fiat," Archbishop Rowan Williams said in an interview published Wednesday in The Daily Telegraph.
In 1994, the heir to the throne said he would like to be a "defender of faith."
Charles said he wanted to be the defender of belief "of the divine in existence, the pattern of the divine which is, I think, in all of us but which, because we are human beings, can be expressed in so many different ways."
As monarch, Charles would be supreme governor of the Church of England, the legally established faith of the nation.
"Unless something really radical happens with the constitution he is, like it or not, defender of the faith and he has a relationship with the Christian church of a kind which he does not have with other faith communities," Williams said. "But three cheers that he has the seriousness he has about this."
The title defender of the faith was bestowed on King Henry VIII by Pope Leo X in 1521. Henry broke with Rome in 1558 and proclaimed himself the supreme governor of the Church of England.
Williams was installed as archbishop of Canterbury in December and will be formally enthroned Feb. 27. The archbishop is spiritual head of the Church of England and leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion.