00:00Now, King Charles has praised the ethics of Judaism and the human instinct of Islam in his Christian Easter message.
00:08Yes. His Majesty is known to have a passion for promoting strong interfaith relations in the United Kingdom.
00:14But the move will undoubtedly come as a bit of a surprise to some, given that he is the head of the Church of England.
00:19Indeed, the Supreme Governor.
00:21But this comes as the King attends the Maundy Thursday service at Durham Cathedral, a beautiful cathedral, might I add,
00:27at which he will distribute the so-called Maundy money.
00:32So there we go. Well, let's discuss this with royal historian Alexander Laman, who's with us in the studio.
00:37Thank you, Alexander.
00:39What should we make of this Christian Easter message that he goes out of his way to mention other religions?
00:45Well, it's funny because I actually looked at his previous Easter message from last year and it's much more conventional
00:50because bear in mind then, he'd just been diagnosed with cancer and his daughter-in-law had just been diagnosed with cancer.
00:56So, as you can imagine, there was a slightly downbeat tone to it.
01:00But this year, it seems very strange because at first glance, as you say, he is the king,
01:06he's the defender of the Christian faith, he is the most high-profile Christian figure we have in the country,
01:12apart perhaps from the Archbishop of Canterbury, and that's a vacant position at the moment.
01:16But you would have expected a very straightforward message, and some of the message is quite straightforward.
01:22I mean, you can call it the all-you-need-is-love message.
01:24But then, as you say, the shout-outs to Judaism and Islam, you think, well, why has he done that?
01:29Now, on the one hand, I think Charles does have a sincere interest in other religions.
01:34This isn't just some sort of bizarre thing he's been roped into saying.
01:37But what you can't help wondering is, was this really the time and the place?
01:41Because ultimately, Easter has a special significance for Christian faith, not for the Jewish faith or the Islamic faith.
01:48And you think to yourself, what exactly is it?
01:51Because you might think it was sheer wokery, you might think it was simply Charles wanting to make it clear that it's about everyone
01:58and indeed nobody at the same time.
02:00But then, I think there's something else to it, isn't there?
02:03It's Charles, once again, exhibiting this very individualistic sensibility, which I think he's tried to show ever since he became monarch.
02:09He's tried to say, I am my own man.
02:12I'm going to say and do things that might not have been expected from a monarch before,
02:16because there is no way the Queen would have ever done this.
02:19And you can see that in this recognition of other faiths, I mean, on the one hand, you must commend him for it.
02:24You must commend him for the idea of reaching out to other religions
02:28and recognising that Britain is a more multicultural country of multicultural faiths.
02:32We saw that nodded to in the coronation, where there were the leading figures from all the faiths there.
02:36But, unlike speculation before the coronation, he didn't change that famous line in the coronation oath,
02:44defender of the faith.
02:45There was speculation he wanted to change that to defender of the faiths,
02:49but that was a step too far for the powers that be.
02:52And yet, it's strange.
02:54When he speaks about other religions and gives messages on the holy days of other religions' calendars,
03:02he doesn't have to cram in every other faith to those ones.
03:05Well, what I was upset by is, where's the Gnostic faith?
03:08Where's the Zoroastrian faith?
03:09And that's what I thought was really unfair,
03:11because there are people in this country who will practise other faiths.
03:14And just to single out two seems rather special treatment, doesn't it?
03:19And you think to yourself, well, if you're going to do this, then you have to do it more sincerely.
03:24And so I think that, in fact, as ever with Charles, there's a sense that there's a good idea,
03:30then there's a sort of half-achievement about how it's attained.
03:34And then we're sitting here saying, well, why did he do it?
03:36So, Alexander, we can put that to our viewers.
03:39Say, is King Charles trying to be woke, or is he trying to be edgy with this?
03:44Yes, that's essentially what it boils down to, could be one of those two things,
03:47or a combination of both.
03:49Alexander Laman, thank you very much indeed for coming into the studio
03:51to discuss the King's Easter message.
03:54Absolutely.
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