Britain’s Prince Charles held talks with the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar last night (11.06.15).
The Prince of Wales invited the two religious figures to his Clarence House home in London for the informal meeting although details of their discussions have not been released.
As the group sat down for dinner, Charles told the Grand Imam – who was president of Cairo’s Al-Azhar University before taking up his religious post – how much he’d enjoyed his visit to the Egyptian city in 2006, where he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the educational institute for his working encouraging interfaith dialogue.
The 66-year-old royal has been vocal about the threat to the Orthodox Christian Coptic church in the Middle East region in recent years.
He has also met with Christian Syrians and Iraqis who have been forced to flee their homes because of the rise of Islamic State.
The Grand Imam, Professor Dr Ahmad Al-Tayyeb and the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev Justin Welby have been holding separate bilateral talks which began yesterday (11.06.15) at Lambeth Palace.
A formal relationship between the offices of the two religious leaders was officially established in 2002 in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in a bid to encourage links between the two faiths.
Prince Charles holds talks with Grand Imam and Archbishop of Canterbury
