King Charles during a recent visit to Lichfield Cathedral. (Photo: Association of English Cathedrals)
King Charles’ decision not to release an Easter message this year has been criticised by some Christians.
Critics have contrasted the absence of an Easter message for Christians this year with his warm greetings for Muslims at the start of Ramadan.
They accuse the King of failing in his formal role as Supreme Governor of the Church of England and “Defender of the Faith”, and failing to read the mood of the nation.
His defenders have noted that he attended a Maundy Thursday church service and that Easter messages are not an annual royal tradition, with the late Queen Elizabeth rarely issuing any.
However, his critics question why the King has chosen not to do so this year despite greeting other faiths and releasing Easter messages in previous years of his reign.
Bishop Ceirion H Dewar, who recently penned an open letter to the King calling on him to defend Britain’s Christian heritage, said the lack of an Easter message from the King this year was “a grave disappointment”.
“At such a pivotal moment in our nation, when many across this United Kingdom feel that our Christian identity is being rapidly stripped away, this silence from the Crown is not neutrality, it is absence,” he said on X.
“Let us not forget that Easter is not merely a footnote in our national story. It is its very foundation! A nation that is untethered from the Resurrection of Christ risks forgetting not only who it is, but why it stands at all!”
In further comments to GB News, Bishop Dewar said the absence of an Easter message “missed the mood of the public”.
“Having just issued a Ramadan and Eid Mubarak message for the Islamic community, choosing not to give an Easter message is bitterly disappointing.
“It does not meet the expectations you would expect from the monarch,” he said.
Gavin Ashenden, a former chaplain to the late Queen, was equally disappointed and said it gives the impression that he favours Islam.
“So last year, – a message to the Islamic community in the spring as they finished Ramadan. This year, a message to the Islamic community as they began Ramadan,” Ashenden wrote on his Substack.
“In neither this year nor last year did he mention Christianity and Lent. It seems odd to his country.
“The inevitable perception is, therefore, that he favours Islam, because when it comes to the Christian festivals like Christmas, what he does then is to offer an inclusive view. So he includes all faiths. He uses Christmas as a platform for celebrating Islamic faith and Jewish faith and Hindu and Sikh.
“In other words, there isn’t anything specifically Christian about his commitment or his public pronouncements. When it’s Christian, it’s a platform for inclusivity. But – when it’s Islamic, it’s exclusively Islamic.
“What kind of impression does that create amongst his Christian subjects, who are in fact the majority? It gives a sense that actually he is more sympathetic to Islam. This, rightly or wrongly, is the sense that people have. People even wonder if he’s converted to Islam.”
Susan Hall, leader of the Conservative group in the London Assembly, said, “King Charles is the head of the Church of England. An Easter message when us Christian’s are feeling very sidelined would have been welcome and I would have thought for the sake of the Monarchy, essential!”
