LONDON: Britain’s King Charles III called for “compassion and reconciliation” at a time of “division” across the world in his annual Christmas Day message broadcast on Thursday.
The 77-year-old monarch said he found it “enormously encouraging” how people of different faiths had a “shared longing for peace”.
In the year of the 80th anniversary of end of World War II, the king said the courage of servicemen and women and the way communities came together back then carried “a timeless message for us all”.
“As we hear of division both at home and abroad, they are the values of which we must never lose sight,” Charles said in a pre-recorded message from Westminster Abbey, broadcast on British television at 1500 GMT.
“With the great diversity of our communities, we can find the strength to ensure that right triumphs over wrong. It seems to me that we need to cherish the values of compassion and reconciliation the way our Lord lived and died.”
In October, Charles became the first head of the Church of England to pray publicly with a pope since the schism with Rome 500 years ago, in a service led by Leo XIV at the Vatican.
A few days earlier Charles met survivors of a deadly attack on a synagogue and members of the Jewish community in the northern English city of Manchester.
This is the second time in succession that the king has made his festive address from outside a royal residence.
Last year he spoke from a former hospital chapel as he thanked medical staff for supporting the royal family in a year in which he announced his cancer diagnosis.
Along with continuing his treatment, the king has also needed to manage controversies related to family members.
In October, he stripped his brother Andrew of all his royal titles and honours as more details emerged about his links to convicted US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
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