May the 6th sees the coronation of Charles Windsor as King Charles III in Westminster Abbey. The makers of mugs and tea-towels and the owners of London hotels will be rubbing their hands and putting up their prices. We, in the north of England, will probably settle down in front of the television and watch the whole procedure live or catch the highlights later in the day.

However, one part of the coronation should cause us concern. That is the oath that Charles will make to his God and the people of this country. Putting aside Charles’ poor record on keeping sacred oaths made on sacred occasions, let us assume he means to keep this one. He will say: ‘I will to my power cause Law and Justice, in Mercy, to be executed in all my judgements. I will to the utmost of my power maintain the Laws of God and the true profession of the Gospel. I will to the utmost of my power maintain in the United Kingdom the Protestant Reformed Religion established by law’.

In other words, I will see to it as Head of the Church of England that that particular branch of Protestantism, The Church of England, keeps its privileges and remains the established church of this country. What about all the other branches of Protestantism, the Catholic Church, the non-Christian faiths and the majority of people who would rather do without any religion thank you?

And there is the problem. If we choose our Head of State from one particular class and one particular religion on an hereditary system that worked well with the late Elizabeth I but caused a Civil War under Charles I and almost gave us a Nazi sympathiser under Edward VIII, then we are probably heading for more problems in the future.

As a democracy we should be able to choose our Head of State or President based on a record of service and fitness for the role rather than a roll of the genetic dice. A president can be re-elected or dismissed in the same way as any other politician by the people speaking through Parliament. They are also cheaper to run than monarchies which seem to require palaces, country houses, an army of servants and the payment of salaries to other family members never mind multi-million pound coronations.

As we watch the golden coach trundle past and the diamond encrusted crowns raised on high we might ask if the money could be better spent, the whole ceremony replaced by a simple promise to do one’s best and serve all the people no matter what their class, religion or ethnic background. We can then take our place with the other mature democracies as citizens of this country rather than subjects of the crown.

Alan Avery, Pickering