By Tenzin Nyidon
DHARAMSHALA, May 8: The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama on Saturday along with other world leaders congratulated King Charles III of United Kingdom on the occasion of his coronation. King Charles’s accession to the throne marks the 40th monarch following the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022.
In his letter, the Tibetan religious leader extended his warm wishes and wrote, “I wish you every success in meeting the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead in fulfilling the hopes and aspirations of the British people and contributing to the creation of a more peaceful world, free of violent conflict.”
King Charles is a longstanding supporter of the Dalai Lama who over the last several decades have hosted the octogenarian leader at his London home, Clarence House, the Office of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama stated. Charles held a reception for the Dalai Lama at Clarence House in May 2008. During the meeting, the two took part in a tree-planting ceremony before spending an hour in private talks.
In 2012, Tibet’s spiritual leader jokingly referred to Charles as his ‘best friend’ during a meeting at Clarence House. King Charles’s dislike towards the Chinese government is very well documented; in 2005, he described the Communist leaders as “appalling old waxworks” which emerged from his diary entries during his 1997 visit to Hong Kong for the handover to the People’s Republic of China, triggering a diplomatic storm.
Critics say that the British monarch’s association with the Dalai Lama has changed over the years. Charles did not host the Dalai Lama during the latter’s nine-day visit to the UK in October 2015. The ‘deliberate snub’ was a diplomatic measure on the part of Charles to avoid offending President Xi Jinping, who made a state visit to the UK at the end of that month, according to Daily Mail.
