Speculation rises over King Charles III’s alleged shift to Islam

Speculation has arisen over King Charles III’s religious allegiance after he did not deliver an Easter message for the first time in his three-year reign, despite previously recording greetings for Muslim holidays.

British Christians and clergy expressed outrage that the monarch appeared to ignore the major Christian holiday, while in February he wished Muslims a blessed and happy Ramadan, according to Christian Post.

Godfrey Bloom, an English author and former member of the European Parliament, echoed concerns that Charles might be Muslim, accused him of abandoning his constitutional duties, and called for his abdication.

"You are of no use to this country whatsoever," Bloom stressed. "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.

Fueling the rumors of a secret conversion are Charles’s recent meeting with the Pope in the Sistine Chapel—the first visit by a reigning English monarch in a thousand years—and his 2025 Christmas address, which praised “all the great faiths.”

Gavin Ashenden, who served as chaplain to Queen Elizabeth II from 2008 to 2017 before converting to Roman Catholicism, released a 15-minute video criticizing the king for not delivering an Easter message, particularly at a time when Christianity is fading in the U.K., which he described as "a moment of crisis in our civilization."

"It's Easter, your majesty. Christ is risen," he urged. "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 Charles’s relevance and that of the royal house if he refuses to uphold his oath as a defender of Christianity. 

"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.

Charles has previously visited Orthodox monasteries on Mount Athos and requested Orthodox chants at his coronation in tribute to his late father, who was born in Greece. Buckingham Palace noted that Easter messages, unlike Christmas addresses, have never been an annual tradition. A royal family social media card nonetheless appeared with the message, “Happy Easter. He is risen!”

By Jeyhun Aghazada