All things must pass, as the Buddha or George Harrison said. And so (in time) of Elizabeth II, Regina, D.F. She's had a good run and (to steal from Lesley Neilson), as ridiculous as the idea of having a queen seems to me, I try to respect the genuine affection many people have for her and her office. Far be it from me to speculate on any connection between the Queen's remarkable longevity and her genealogically demonstrable tie to Vlad Dracula. No, no, she may sleep in whatever soil she chooses, rise whenever she likes, and feast on whatever or whomever takes her fancy. The stake comes too soon for us all.
What I notice about the inevitable transition in the British monarchy is that there has not been a coronation ceremony in 65 years (Winston Churchill was Prime Minister for the last one). At the time, Elizabeth swore the traditional vow that she would "maintain the Laws of God and the true profession of the Gospel" and to her utmost power "maintain in the United Kingdom the Protestant Reformed Religion established by law".
Needless to say, times have changed, and the religious composition of Britain lacks the relative homogeneity it had on June 2, 1953 (though even then there was a substantial minority of non-Protestant Christians). I have been told that the Queen's successor will no longer be styled Defender of the Faith but rather the Defender of Faith. I don't know if that is more than a rumor, but it is difficult to imagine the ceremony remaining the same.
My questions are:
Does anyone know what is going to happen? Will the vows be changed? Will the title? In the opinion of anyone who has an opinion on this, should they be changed? Would it have a positive, negative, or neutral effect on British life? After all, the change in form reflects a change in thinking, and formalizing the thought change would likely affect future generations. It's kind of a strange thing to be living through.