After the break with Rome at the Reformation, private sympathies, interfaith marriages and clandestine conversions kept a fragile link between the Crown and Catholic Church

It was the kind of event that usually attracts only the most devout and well-to-do Catholics: a fundraising reception for the centenary of the Society of St Augustine, founded to raise funds to maintain and improve Archbishop’s House on Ambrosden Avenue, home of the Archbishop of Westminster. But among the throng at the society’s reception on 10 May was a surprising guest of honour: the Prince of Wales.

The Prince may well have been attracted by the Society’s efforts to pay for reducing the energy consumption of the home of Cardinal Vincent Nichols, given his own green concerns. But something more than the promise of solar panels on the cardinal’s roof may also have piqued his interest – the president of the Society of St Augustine is the Duke of Norfolk. And at this stage in the Prince’s life, the 18th Duke of Norfolk, Edward Fitzalan-Howard, has become a very important person. For Eddie Norfolk holds the historic title of Earl Marshal – the man who runs the coronation. It is the Duke who will manage the ceremony when Charles is crowned king – an event, given his mother’s great age, that might not be that far off.