What is 'Defender of the Faith' mean and who does it apply to?

Answer 1

You have probably heard this term in reference to King Henry VIII. "Defender of the Faith" was a title first bestowed upon Henry after he wrote a tract - in conjunction with Thomas More - called Assertio Septem Sacramentorum (Defence of the Seven Sacraments). The tract was a repudiation of the Protestant teachings burgeoning forth on mainland Europe under Luther; it served as both a defense of the sacraments and of the papal primacy.

Ironically, Henry himself was to reject the papal primacy and split from the Catholic Church. As a result, the title was striped from him by Pope Paull III. The English parliament, however, took the title into its own hands, conferring in on Edward the IV in 1544 as he was the head of the emerging Anglican Church. The title has since been successively passed on to every new monarch, save for a brief period (1653-59) when the monarchy was suspended.