King Charles III stirs outrage for neglecting Easter message: 'Christians will be heartbroken' Speculation swirls that Charles secretly converted to Islam

By Jon Brown

THE CHRISTIAN POST

April 04, 2026

King Charles III has prompted concern from members of the public and some Christian leaders in the United Kingdom for declining to issue a formal Easter message to his subjects this year, despite offering one last year and commemorating Ramadan with a statement in February.

King Charles III and Queen Camilla held the Royal Maundy service on Thursday in Wales for only the second time in its 800-year history, though the king's lack of an Easter message, which was confirmed by Buckingham Palace, raised eyebrows from many on social media, including some who speculated he might have secretly converted to Islam.

Ceirion H. Dewar, a traditionalist Anglican bishop who penned an open letter to the king last month, warning that the Christian heritage of the U.K. is being "deliberately eroded" and faces growing hostility amid surging Islam, told GB News that he is "bitterly disappointed" by the lack of a royal Easter message this year.

"There isn't a royal precedent for releasing a message, but since coming to the throne, Charles has chosen to do so every year," he said. "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 added. "Christians will be heartbroken, having learned the defender of the faith has ignored them."

Dewar suggested that the historically Protestant English monarch neglecting to issue a statement commemorating the most important Christian holiday is "so much worse" than simply being syncretistic.

Godfrey Bloom, an English author and former member of the European Parliament, echoed concerns that Charles might be Muslim, accused him of betraying his constitutional role and urged him to abdicate.

"You are of no use to this country whatsoever," Bloom said. "You have failed in every conceivable way in your relatively short period of time on the throne."

"In the name of God, go!" he added, quoting Oliver Cromwell's famous line to the Rump Parliament in the wake of the English Civil War in 1653.

Stephen Kuhrt, who serves as the Anglican vicar of Christ Church, New Malden in England, said he believes the king's lack of an Easter message was ill-advised, but is being misinterpreted.

"If the king was going to make a speech about Islam in the current climate, perhaps he would have been well-advised to have done something Christian as well, but I genuinely don't think that it was intended the way people have been interpreting it," he said.

"I can understand why people are upset in the current climate, but I don't think that was the intention: to denigrate Christianity."

Gavin Ashenden, who served as chaplain to Queen Elizabeth II from 2008 to 2017 before leaving the Church of England for Roman Catholicism, issued a 15-minute video statement rebuking the king for neglecting an Easter message, especially as Christianity evaporates in the U.K. amid what he called "a moment of crisis in our civilization."

Ashenden, who departed his role as the queen's chaplain after publicly protesting that St. Mary’s Cathedral, Glasgow, marked the Feast of the Epiphany by reciting verses from the Quran denying Christ's divinity, suggested the exclusive claims of Christianity are not palatable to Charles because they contradict the multicultural relativism that has become his de facto religion.

"It's Easter, your majesty. Christ is risen," he said. "Try saying it, perhaps, to your subjects to encourage them; to encourage them to live the faith, to talk the faith, to pray the faith, and to rediscover their own value in the eyes of God. Is that not what a king ought to do at a time like this?"

Ashenden questioned the usefulness of Charles and his royal house if he is unwilling to fulfill his oath to be a defender of the Christian faith.

"I'm afraid it's true: if you can't do this, if you cannot find it in your heart on Easter day to wish your Christian country well on a feast of Christ's resurrection, then maybe you ought to be doing something else in life. Maybe the span of the usefulness of the house of Windsor has come to an end," he added.

Since formally assuming the throne in 2023, Charles has repeatedly prompted outrage for actions that many have characterized as an affront to the historic English Protestantism that he swore to uphold and defend in his coronation oath.

When he met with Pope Leo XIV and participated in an ecumenical worship service with him in the Sistine Chapel last October, he became the first reigning English monarch to be formally received by a pope since King Canute met with Pope John XIX in 1027. The move led to complaints and calls for his abdication from multiple historic Protestant fraternal groups in the U.K.

Last Christmas, the king stoked backlash for his Christmas message that praised "the great diversity of our communities" while expressing his admiration for "all the great faiths."

King Charles III is slated to make a state visit to the United States later this month, when he will deliver an address to a joint session of Congress to mark the 250th anniversary of American independence from Great Britain.

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