What exactly does Queen Elizabeth II do as head of the Anglican church?

Just as all her duties, the Queen has no actual powers within the Church of England, other than upholding the tradition and faith according to the C of E. As far as I'm aware, Prince Charles says he prefer the term 'defender of faith', not the faith. However, I don't see him as anything other the C of E either - he was apparently keen to have his marriage to Camilla blessed, even if the marriage ceremony had to be a civil one. Circumcised by a Jewish Rabbi? - Source? 'Closet Catholic' - Source please.

It`s the Queens job to appoint Bishops and Archbishops ,but like with most things she does it on the governments advise .. the church should not only be separated from the monarchy but also from the state ,it`s a ridiculous situation in this day and age when so many of us couldn`t care less about ANY religion let alone the Cof E

Almost nothing. It goes back to when Henry VIII created it and made himself the head, thus making being Anglican not just a matter of your faith, but of whether you were loyal to the monarch. It took another 300 years for other denominations and religions to be legal in the UK. Bear in mind this was at a time when the Catholic Church had some temporal as well as spiritual power - parts of what is now Germany were ruled by prince-bishops - so Henry ruled that to be Catholic was treason as it meant loyalty to a foreign ruler. Of course things have changed and now the only place where the Pope has any temporal power is the Vatican City. The only responsibility of the Queen in her role as Supreme Governor of the Church of England is to appoint diocesan bishops. Until recently the Church presented the Prime Minister with a short list of two, the Prime Minister recommended one, and the Queen appointed the man recommended. Gordon Brown, as Prime Minister, got it down to a short list of one. Very sensible as he has never been Anglican (he is the son of a Church of Scotland minister) so why should he have any say in it? Your statements about Camilla are not supported by the evidence you have given. It is part of "the rules" that Catholics do everything in their power to have their children brought up Catholic. Her children therefore were brought up in the Catholic faith as that was their father's doing. There is no evidence whatsoever to suggest that Camilla is a "closet Catholic" - she probably wasn't bothered either way, so her former husband made the decisions. Nor do you have any evidence to suggest that she insisted Prince Charles changed the succession laws. That is not his decision to make in any case, and Parliament wanted to do it in the interests of religious equality. The idea had been floating around for years before it got put into the Succession to the Crown Act 2013. Edit - the Parker Bowleses probably didn't get their marriage annulled after the civil divorce as this is only necessary to remarry as a Catholic. Both of them got married second time round in register offices, where an annulment is not required. Why do you think only Camilla was to blame for the failure of their marriage? Andrew "played around" quite a bit too and remarried a lot quicker than she did. As your link says it takes 12-18 months to get an annulment, he wouldn't have had time to get one before remarrying to Rosemary Pitman. I never will understand Catholic annulments - even people who were validly married, followed all legal form, and have produced children, can get one. I can only conclude that either the entire Catholic priesthood is incompetent at solemnising marriage, or all married Catholics are living in sin because the Church can find a reason why their marriage can be declared null. Such is the fun of religion: it can declare that black is white and people will believe it.

In fact, she is the Supreme Governor of the Church of England, NOT of all Anglicans. The CofE was part of the government of England, which is called the "established" church. E.g., it takes Parliament to change the Prayer Book, and things like that. When England joined with Scotland to be the United Kingdom, the CofE remained the established Church, at least as far as things in England are concerned. It is not the established Church in Scotland, for example. "Established" pretty much means that the Church, and Government are connected. As the Queen is the Head of State, it makes sense for her to be Head of the Church, as the Church, and State are linked. She does appoint bishops, something English monarchs have done from the very beginning. All this fuss about Henry VIII appointed his own Bishop of Canterbury is a lot of fuss over nothing - English kings always did do this, usually with the Pope. Henry just removed the Pope's role in it. So, this stuff goes way back.... to even before there was an England. So, her role in the Church is more of a political one, although her example is spiritual for sure, but, power-wise, it is political.

Who understands why they do anything... it's completely ludicrous

Just a note....I've seen many saying things like "by the time Camilla married her first husband the Catholic Church was allowing Catholics to marry non-Catholics so long as the non-Catholic promised to raise the children Catholic." The Catholic Church has ALWAYS allowed Catholics to marry non-Catholics so long as the non-Catholic promises to raise the children Catholic. (Though I do know of a family in which the father is Catholic and goes to Mass every day but the children were raised in the mother's religion.) My parents were married in 1960 and my father is not Catholic. They were the first mixed marriage to be married in the church rather than the rectory, but it happened long before Camilla married her first husband.

http://www.royal.gov.uk/MonarchUK/QueenandChurch/QueenandChurch.aspx In the United Kingdom, The Queen's title includes the words 'Defender of the Faith'. This means Her Majesty has a specific role in both the Church of England and the Church of Scotland. As established Churches, they are recognised by law as the official Churches of England and Scotland, respectively. In both England and Scotland, the established Churches are subject to the regulation of law. The principle of religious toleration is fully recognised both for those of other creeds and for those without any religious beliefs. There are no established Churches in Northern Ireland nor in Wales. They were disestablished in 1869 in Northern Ireland and 1920 in Wales. There is no established Church in any Commonwealth country of which The Queen is monarch (i.e. a realm). In addition to playing a role in the Churches of England and Scotland, The Queen recognises and supports the various other faiths practised in the UK and Commonwealth. I am Catholic. We don't abide by all of the "rules." Active Catholics are advised to follow their spiritual conscious and must learn to figure out things for themselves. Not all mixed-marriage Catholics raise their children as Catholic. Camilla is not Catholic, nor is she a closet Catholic. Andrew Parker Bowles is a known ladies-man who was not faithful to Camilla during their marriage, either. The laws were changed this April, but the monarch and heirs still must be Church of England: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2013/20/pdfs/ukpga_20130020_en.pdf 2 Removal of disqualification arising from marriage to a Roman Catholic (1) A person is not disqualified from succeeding to the Crown or from possessing it as a result of marrying a person of the Roman Catholic faith. (2) Subsection (1) applies in relation to marriages occurring before the time of the coming into force of this section where the person concerned is alive at that time (as well as in relation to marriages occurring after that time).

Camilla is not a Roman Catholic and not a "closet" Catholic. By the time she married Andrew Parker Bowles, the Roman Catholic Church was allowing marriages to non-Catholics as long as the non-Catholic spouse agreed that the children would be raised as catholic. Camilla agreed to this but never converted herself. You do not need to feel drawn to the Catholic Church to fall in love with and marry a Catholic. After all, if Camilla HAD felt so drawn, she would have converted. She never did. Since she was not a Catholic and did not wish to remarry in the Roman Catholic Church, she did not require a Catholic annulment of her first marriage. She and Charles didn't have a religious remarriage anyway, although by that time, the Church of England had dropped its blanket prohibition against the religious remarriage of the divorced. I might point out that Andrew Parker Bowles isn't the most devout of Catholics himself. He hardly observes the tenets of the Church on the subject of adultery. He's a well-known serial philanderer.

checks the time sheets, and gives out the overtime.