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King Charles used the British monarch’s annual Christmas address to call for global environmental awareness, peace in a time of wars, and a call to do service for others.
“To care for this Creation is a responsibility owned by people of all faiths and of none,” Charles said in his second Christmas address as king, which linked faith, the Christmas story, and present-day preoccupations.
“We care for the Earth for the sake of our children’s children,” Charles said. “During my lifetime I have been so pleased to see a growing awareness of how we must protect the Earth and our natural world as the one home which we all share.”
He added that “at a time of increasingly tragic conflict around the world, I pray that we can also do all in our power to protect each other. The words of Jesus seem more than ever relevant: ‘Do to others as you would have them do to you.’ Such values are universal, drawing together our Abrahamic family of religions, and other belief systems, across the Commonwealth and wider world. They remind us to imagine ourselves in the shoes of our neighbors, and to seek their good as we would our own.”
The king’s Christmas message was filmed in the Centre Room at Buckingham Palace, with the Buckingham Palace balcony and view of the Victoria Memorial in the background. Last year, Charles’ first Christmas message was filmed in the Quire of St George’s Chapel, Windsor. The last Christmas message filmed at Buckingham Palace was the late Queen Elizabeth’s from the White Drawing Room in 2018.
Charles spoke of the conviviality and meaning of Christmas, and the duty to help others.
“We remember those who are no longer with us and think also of those whose work of caring for others continues, even on this special day. This care and compassion we show to others is one of the themes of the Christmas Story, especially when Mary and Joseph were offered shelter in their hour of need by strangers, as they waited for Jesus to be born.
“Over this past year my heart has been warmed by countless examples of the imaginative ways in which people are caring for one another—going the extra mile to help those around them simply because they know it is the right thing to do: at work and at home; within and across communities.”
King Charles, Queen Camilla, William, Prince of Wales, Catherine, Princess of Wales, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, Prince Louis and Mia Tindall attend the Royal Family's Christmas Day service at St. Mary Magdalene's church, December 25, 2023.
Chris Radburn/Reuters
Queen Camilla and he “were delighted when hundreds of representatives of that selfless army of people—volunteers who serve their communities in so many ways and with such distinction—were able to join us in Westminster Abbey for the Coronation earlier this year. They are an essential backbone of our society.”
Service also lay at the heart of the Christmas story, Charles said, “the birth of Jesus who came to serve the whole world, showing us by his own example how to love our neighbor as ourselves.”
The work being done by those for their own communities, Charles said, was “all the more important at a time of real hardship for many, when we need to build on existing ways to support others less fortunate than ourselves.”
Service to others, Charles said, “is but one way of honoring the whole of Creation which, after all, is a manifestation of the Divine. This is a belief shared by all religions.”
Charles said that his “heart and thanks” went out “to all who are serving one another; all who are caring for our common home; and all who see and seek the good of others, not least the friend we do not yet know. In this way, we bring out the best in ourselves.”
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King Charles Cites 'Increasingly Tragic Conflict' in Powerful Christmas Plea - The Daily Beast
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