The anointing of Charles III will echo the ancient biblical reference to Solomon becoming King of Israel after holy oil was poured on his head, almost a millennia before in about 970BC.

But many wonder if the coming coronation - the last surviving ceremony of its kind in Europe - holds the same meaning as it did in 1953, when Elizabeth II was crowned.

The truth is that the late Queen's 70-year reign ushered in the post-deferential age and a decline in religious observance.

However, for those with faiths, especially Christians, the meaning of confessional worship and these important sacraments hold as much provenance and potency as ever.

The coronation takes place within one of the Church of England's sacraments, called the eucharist, or holy communion. And within its liturgy, the most profound moment will be the unction - when the King is anointed with holy oil, on his head, breast and hands.

This increasingly secular, free-thinking and democratic nation has no limit of views about all of this.

Many of those living in our democracy detest churches and the role that religion and faithfulness have played in the world's history.

Many also decry a national event that appears to do little to further the legitimacy of a head of state, who succeeded to the throne on 8 September 2022 when Queen Elizabeth II's heart beat its last.

But the process of succession to kingship in the United Kingdom follows the constitutional norms set by statute and precedent, which have evolved to, perhaps, echo the emotions any family feels at the end of a generation.

Charles III became king in "sadness" - both the Accession Council and state funeral addressed this. The coronation is intended to confirm the new reign with "joy", and will see the monarch make his only spoken and written promise to reign, according to law, with justice.

Undoubtedly, much of this meaning and the national semiotics that will play out, will be lost in a conversation of worth, cost and point, into which will be added discussions of republicanism and change.

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But coronations, and the change of reigns, have always been the catalysts to healthy introspection for an evolving nation with an ever-healthy appetite for reinvention.

The coronation of William the Conqueror, on Christmas Day 1066, witnessed a deadly drama of change. The Norman conquerors misinterpreted the cheering Saxons as a rebellion outside Westminster Abbey and many were slaughtered.

George IV held probably the most lavish coronation in 1821. It was designed in part to celebrate the defeat of Napoleon six years before, and display confidence in the place Great Britain and Ireland felt it had earned in the world.

Interestingly, his Queen, Caroline of Brunswick, was excluded from the ceremony. The royal couple were by this time bitterly estranged. Although Caroline was popular with some of her subjects, her husband didn't share their affection.

When she arrived at the abbey and demanded to be crowned, the door was slammed in her face. This puts into some perspective any family difficulties we may sense in those assembling for this coronation.

The last coronation, in 1953, was little changed in format to that held for Edward VII in 1902, George V in 1911 and George VI, who was crowned on the day planned for his abdicated elder brother, Edward VIII, in 1937.

When Elizabeth II arrived at Westminster Abbey on 2 June 1953, she was just 27. Her youth seemed symbolic of the post-war hope held by a nation and commonwealth recovering from the defeat of Hitler, Mussolini and martial Japan.

Winston Churchill was her prime minister and the young queen was surrounded by the crimson velvet robes, ermine and coronets of an aristocracy, which assumed their successors would similarly assemble for the coronation of the then three-year-old Prince Charles, who was the youngest person to watch his mother being crowned.

However, the rights of the hereditary peerage to sit in the legislature ended during the last reign, except for some residual elected representatives. Also, peerages for life were introduced, to admit a different membership into the House of Lords.

The appearance of the coming coronation will be very different. It is another reinvention of the office and role of the monarchy, in a changing social time.

Whatever we witness in Westminster Abbey on 6 May, it will be as different again for the crownings of the Prince of Wales and his son, Prince George of Wales, should they come, in turn, to the same place of coronation.

However King Charles III's coronation may be viewed by the multitude of critical witnesses worldwide, what we will watch is a man of faith dedicate himself, by oath before his god and within the Christian sacrament of eucharist, to serve and rule according to the laws passed by the parliaments of the people in his 15 realms.

The world may be imperfect, but might this form of profound undertaking still count for something? It could affirm the intent to mark the end of one reign and the start of this new one in joy.

The rest is down to the electorate, their parliamentarians and the challenges that will face this democracy in the years to come.