When King Charles ascended to the throne, he swore, as monarchs have for the past 500 years, to “maintain the Protestant Reformed religion established by law” and preserve the integrity of the Church of England.
As both the Defender of the Faith and the head of the Church, Charles’ role as King is as deeply religious as it is constitutional. However, a newly uncovered letter written by Charles in 1998, when he was still Prince of Wales, has cast a shadow on our understanding of his relationship with the Church and revealed that his views on religion may have been more complex — and at times, deeply conflicted.
The letter, written to his close friend, the interior designer Dudley Poplak, suggests that as Charles matured, he grew increasingly drawn to the Greek Orthodox Church and its “timeless traditions.” In a sentiment that some interpret as a subtle critique of the Church of England, the future king lamented that all other Christian denominations, including his own, had been “corrupted by loathsome political correctness.”
The typed letter, dated August 24, 1998, was written at Balmoral Castle and is signed, “Yours ever, Charles.” It carries the Prince of Wales’s coat of arms and is marked “Private & Confidential,” further highlighting its personal nature. The revelation of this letter raises important questions about the monarch’s private thoughts before he formally assumed his religious duties, adding new layers to the public persona of a King who has long been intertwined with the Church of England’s traditions.