UK Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis and his wife have been invited – and have accepted the invitation – to stay at Clarence House with King Charles and his wife, Queen Consort Camilla on Shabbat the night before the king’s coronation, The JC reported this week.
The invitation extended by the King makes it possible for the rabbi to attend the coronation without violating the Jewish Sabbath and to “make sure that he is there so that no one is left out on coronation day, on the Sabbath,” wrote royal expert Dickie Arbiter.
Westminster Abbey – site of the upcoming coronation – is a short walk from Clarence House.
While constitutionally obligated to become the “Defender of the Faith,” King Charles is also clearly planning to defend other faiths in the kingdom as well, the news outlet reflected.
“This multiculturalism has always been important to the King and something he’s long recognized,” Arbiter wrote.
King Charles similarly accommodated Rabbi Mirvis when he moved the time of a palace event during the days of mourning for his mother, the Queen, to ensure the rabbi could attend and still make it home in time for Shabbat.
