An Occult Royal Wedding: Public State Ceremonies as Rituals of Civil Irreligion

This article explores the contested nature of the meaning of state ceremonies, focussing on alternative accounts of the United Kingdom's 2011 Royal Wedding between William Windsor and Kate Middleton. Although state ceremonies are ostensibly secular affairs, utilizing religious symbolism for pur...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Implicit religion
Main Author: Toseland, Nicholas R. E. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Equinox [2018]
In: Implicit religion
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B William, Wales, Prinz 1982- / Catherine, Wales, Prinzessin 1982- / Wedding ceremony / Great Britain / Civil religion / Symbol / Religion / Icke, David 1952- / Conspiracy theory / Occultism
RelBib Classification:AD Sociology of religion; religious policy
KBF British Isles
KDE Anglican Church
ZB Sociology
Further subjects:B Occulture
B David Icke
B Conspiracy Theory
B British royal family
B RITES & ceremonies
B Civil Religion
B Ritual
B Weddings
Online Access: Volltext (doi)
Description
Summary:This article explores the contested nature of the meaning of state ceremonies, focussing on alternative accounts of the United Kingdom's 2011 Royal Wedding between William Windsor and Kate Middleton. Although state ceremonies are ostensibly secular affairs, utilizing religious symbolism for purely ceremonial reasons, there are those who think differently. David Icke perceives a hidden, satanic symbolism and deploys various interpretive strategies including the numerology of time, symbology of ceremonial objects, and genealogy of participants. Building on Bellah's concept of "civil religion," this article looks at competing expressivist and instrumentalist analyses alongside the interpretive strategies of Icke, and other 'truth-seeker' bloggers, for whom the Royal Wedding, alongside other state rituals, functions as a nefarious ritual of civil irreligion.
ISSN:1743-1697
Contains:Enthalten in: Implicit religion
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1558/imre.37774