King Charles meets faith leaders to mark Inter Faith Week amid ‘difficult times’

King Charles met religious leaders from across the country to mark Inter Faith Week amid “difficult times”.

The monarch, who also celebrated her 75th birthday earlier this week, attended a reception on Thursday with more than 30 religious leaders and community representatives.

The event, held at Lambeth Palace Library, was also attended by the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis and Al Khoei Foundation’s Aliya Azam.

The palace said this was an opportunity for faith leaders to speak to the King about their communities and what they “live in light of global conflicts” and how these conflicts “affect community relations in this country.”

In honor of Charles’ visit, Mr Welby said it was a “great honor to welcome King Charles”, adding: “These are difficult times for faith communities in Britain, particularly with the ongoing war in the Middle East “.

The Archbishop of Canterbury said the visit was a means of encouraging communities to be “united in partnership and friendship”.

The monarch was also shown various religious artefacts at the library, including an English translation of the Koran from 1734, a Talmud, which is almost 500 years old, and a Bible from 1808.

Mr Welby showed Charles a Coronation Bible and the King signed the library’s visitor’s book.

Thanking staff on the way, the monarch said: “Well done for all the wonderful things you do.”

“I hope opening the blinds didn’t cause too much damage – it would be all my fault,” he joked.

This was the King’s first visit to Lambeth Palace Library since his accession and the first time at Lambeth Palace since Queen Elizabeth II visited in 2012 to mark her Diamond Jubilee.

The Royal Family’s official X/Twitter account also shared images from the King’s visit, with the caption: “This afternoon the King joined over 30 religious leaders @LamPalLib to mark #InterFaithWeek. Her Majesty has worked for many years to promote tolerance and better understanding between different faiths and communities.

“At Lambeth Palace Library, Her Majesty viewed an exhibition of interfaith items from her historic collection. Among the items were documents relating to Project Spire: ongoing research into links between the Church of England’s endowment fund and transatlantic slavery,” the account added.

Meanwhile, in Glasgow earlier this week the Princess Royal attended a forum hosted by Interfaith Glasgow.

“Her Royal Highness joined a discussion about the importance of interfaith dialogue and the valuable contribution that diverse faith communities make to our society,” the royal family wrote on X.

Inter Faith Week started on Remembrance Sunday (12 November) and will end on Sunday 19 November.

Inter Faith Week.org stated on its website that “The extra Sunday provides the opportunity for other weekend events to take place as well as those related to Remembrance Sunday.

“Remembrance Sunday was chosen as a starting day to encourage people to remember together the contributions of all faiths and none, and to think about how best to create a just, peaceful and harmonious world.”

The week is set to highlight the work of local faith groups, as well as teach people about different spaces and environments.

The organization said its three aims for the week were to strengthen “good interfaith relations at all levels”, to raise “awareness of Britain’s different and distinct faith communities” and to bring about “understanding between religious and non-religious people”. . beliefs.”