God save our Islamophilic King

Britain today celebrates the crowning of a new king, but the coronation will be watched and celebrated by millions across the Commonwealth. To an extent that is often not appreciated abroad, the Queen – who was Defender of the Faith – was revered by her subjects of all faiths. In our often sectarian world, she exerted a unifying force: one that her son recognised and exemplifies.

Muslims in Britain and the world over will recognise, in King Charles, a monarch who is deeply Islamophilic. He has spoken about his attempts to learn Arabic in order to understand the Quran in its original script. He served as vice-patron of the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies and has spoken eloquently about Islam and the West, saying the links ‘matter more today than ever before’. He is deeply familiar with the Middle East region and is particularly interested in the archaeological work around the ancient Nabatean site Al-Ula in Saudi Arabia, a country he has visited a dozen times – more often than any other nation in the region.