MilitaryForums.co.uk

Posted: **Mon 05 Apr, 2004 7:16 pm**

Hi there folks. What is the oath of allegiance to the Crown ?

Does anyone have a copy of this.

Posted: **Mon 05 Apr, 2004 7:43 pm**

Why?

Posted: **Mon 05 Apr, 2004 9:29 pm**

You don't need to learn it. Just say what you are told to say !!!!

Posted: **Mon 05 Apr, 2004 9:45 pm**

This is the Canadian version. There are various Oaths, utilised by everybody from witnesses to Prime Ministers. If you are going to swear it, then understand what it means, don't just mouth the words because you have to; it's all part of why we served.

I, ...................., do swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second, Queen of Canada, Her Heirs and Successors. So help me God.

Posted: **Mon 05 Apr, 2004 9:48 pm**

Akela we will do our best to do our duty to god and the queen, to help other people and to keep the Cub Scout law.

It is along the lines of "I promise to serve Her Majesty, her heirs and successors..."

Posted: **Mon 05 Apr, 2004 9:59 pm**

El Prez wrote:This is the Canadian version. There are various Oaths, utilised by everybody from witnesses to Prime Ministers. If you are going to swear it, then understand what it means, don't just mouth the words because you have to; it's all part of why we served.

I, ...................., do swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second, Queen of Canada, Her Heirs and Successors. So help me God.

I recall that my Brit Army oath in '81 also included (after "...Successors") "...and the Officers and Generals set over me" (it also read that way on my attestation certificate). No idea if it has changed.

The Canadian version may be taken as an oath (swearing by God with the hand upon the Bible) or as a solemn affirmation (for the irreligious libertines among us) where "swear" is replaced by "solemnly affirm", "So help me God" is deleted, and the Bible is conspicuous by its absence.

Last Wed, during the Regimental birthday parade, the CO swore in two new recruits in front of the unit. While he administered the oath, I couldn't help wondering if anyone had had the presence of mind to ask them what version they preferred.

Posted: **Tue 06 Apr, 2004 12:59 am**

A-S,

The army wouldn't allow me to be an atheist (I've since found out that you can be a 'Humanist' which is the next best thing) and insisted that I pick a religion. Having been brought up a Muslim I picked that faith, but I was still attested with a King James Bible as apparently they didn't have anything else. Don't get me wrong as a devout non-believer I wasn't bothered, but I couldn't help feel that the whole thing had been a bit of a farce.

The non-faith version that your Canadian comrades have sounds like something that I would have been happier with. I've known a couple of Pagans/Wiccans in the army too, and I've always wondered what they were attested with?
Best regards!

Pasha

Posted: **Tue 06 Apr, 2004 1:05 am**

In the RM Agnostics/others can make the oath as well...

Posted: **Tue 06 Apr, 2004 2:50 am**

Pasha wrote:I've known a couple of Pagans/Wiccans in the army too, and I've always wondered what they were attested with?
Best regards!

Pasha

Probaly a large, lumpy mushroom adminstered by a wee man with big ears and a pointy wee hat!

Posted: **Tue 06 Apr, 2004 2:55 am**

Thank God {pun}.
I'm agnostic and would happily swear tol the crown but would bualk at swearing alliegience to god!

Posted: **Tue 06 Apr, 2004 3:28 am**

anglo-saxon wrote:
I, ...................., do swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second, Queen of Canada, Her Heirs and Successors. So help me God.
The Canadian version may be taken as an oath (swearing by God with the hand upon the Bible) or as a solemn affirmation (for the irreligious libertines among us) where "swear" is replaced by "solemnly affirm", "So help me God" is deleted, and the Bible is conspicuous by its absence.

When did they change that?
Mines the same as the one prez put forward.
I just checked with a a pte down the hall and he had the same one I did and he swore his in 3 years ago.

Posted: **Tue 06 Apr, 2004 9:15 am**

As previously posted:

All is explained:

http://www.army.mod.uk/servingsoldier/u ... 5_3_w.html

A good read for any recruit wondering what joining the Army entails and what the expectations are.

This is the interesting part with regard to the Oath of Allegiance:

0307. Irrespective of private beliefs, this Oath embodies the context within which the British Army fights and operates. It expresses the formal yet personal loyalty of every soldier in the British Army to the Sovereign as head of state. This focus on the Sovereign means that whatever the political views of individual soldiers, the British Army is essentially apolitical. Similarly, the Sovereign is the authority for the Commissions and Warrants of the various categories of officers. There is a similar formal yet personal relationship of Corps and Regiments to the Sovereign. These relationships find expression in the Colours, Standards and other emblems of Regimental and Corps spirit which derive from the Sovereign, and in the Ceremonial which demonstrates publicly the role of the Army in the fabric of the nation.

Posted: **Tue 06 Apr, 2004 9:34 am**

The Army allows for atheists & agnostics as well.

Pasha - The army wouldn't allow me to be an atheist....

I think you were misinformed. I swore as an agnostic and had a slightly different oath to the religious bods which had no mention of God.

Posted: **Tue 06 Apr, 2004 1:03 pm**

I think you were misinformed.

More than likely mate. I long ago learned that what advise you receive in the Army depends on who you talk to about what and when. No two people could ever give you the same answer.
Regards!

Pash

Posted: **Tue 06 Apr, 2004 5:20 pm**

BenChug wrote:
anglo-saxon wrote:
I, ...................., do swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second, Queen of Canada, Her Heirs and Successors. So help me God.
The Canadian version may be taken as an oath (swearing by God with the hand upon the Bible) or as a solemn affirmation (for the irreligious libertines among us) where "swear" is replaced by "solemnly affirm", "So help me God" is deleted, and the Bible is conspicuous by its absence.
When did they change that?
Mines the same as the one prez put forward.
I just checked with a a pte down the hall and he had the same one I did and he swore his in 3 years ago.

The same time as they changed it for summary trials. That must have been at least five years ago, because I took my presiding officer's course in May '99.