LONDON (RNS) — As he tied a sacred thread to King Charles III’s wrist on Wednesday (Oct. 29), the head monk of London’s BAPS Swaminarayan temple blessed the string as “a string of friendship… to ensure our bonds remain ever sweet.” The gesture marked Charles’ first visit as monarch to the historic Hindu temple, continuing a decadeslong relationship as Britain debates immigration, religious diversity and national identity with increasing intensity.
With its intricately carved limestone and gleaming marble, the BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir is widely recognized as the first traditional Hindu stone temple built in the Western world. The king’s fifth visit to the mandir, commonly known as the Neasden Temple for its neighborhood in northwest London, marked the mandir’s 30th anniversary.
“The King’s coming was more than just a special moment for us,” said Karina Patel, a British diplomat, referring to the United Kingdom’s million Hindus. “It was a powerful message from the Crown that we belong. It signals that he and the country we call home respect our faith and value our contributions to British life.”
The king has a long record of engagement with other faiths, including visits to mosques, gurdwaras, and synagogues, as well as regular meetings with religious leaders. Just a week earlier, his formal state visit to the Vatican, during which he prayed with Pope Leo, had made history.
The king and queen were greeted at the temple with flower garlands and folded hands at the mandir’s entrance. The king, the Supreme Governor of the Church of England, then stepped respectfully into the temple. He observed as children offered flowers before the sacred images and as a family performed the abhishek ceremony, a devotional bathing of the sacred image of Bhagwan Swaminarayan, the god consecrated in the temple’s central shrine.
Hinal Patel, who performed the abhishek ritual, said, “The king is a Christian and we are Hindus, yet he appreciated our expression of faith. We prayed for their wellbeing and we believe God who resides in the murti (sacred image) also blessed them.”
Yogvivekdas Swami ties a sacred thread on King Charles III’s wrist, a traditional welcome on behalf of Mahant Swami Maharaj, whose image is seen behind them, during the king’s visit to the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir (known as the ‘Neasden Temple’), in Neasden, London, on October 29, 2025. (Photo courtesy of the Neasden Temple)
In an address, the head monk, Yogvivekdas Swami, reflected on the community’s longstanding relationship with the king, recalling earlier visits and situating them within a continuum of shared causes: heritage and traditional architecture, the performing arts, youth initiatives, charity and spirituality. Bonds, he suggested, have been forged through such common-good initiatives.
A choir of children recited the Shanti Patha, prayers of peace in Sanskrit from the Yajur Veda and verses from the Satsang Diksha, a Scripture on devotional and ethical living, authored by Mahant Swami Maharaj, spiritual head of the Hindu denomination, who joined the event via video from India. Like Charles, the guru has made a commitment to showing respect to other faiths by visiting religious places like the Grand Mosque and Sikh Gurudawara in the United Arab Emirates and has engaged with religious leaders from around the world.
Mahant Swami Maharaj, 92, thanked Charles for “decades of friendship,” recalling how the king had received his predecessor, Pramukh Swami Maharaj, who founded the Neasden Temple, at St James’ Palace in 1997. In his own sermons, Mahant Swami Maharaj said, he has often quoted from a 1991 speech by then-Prince Charles, urging the rediscovery of the divine element within as the most urgent need in the modern world.
When a monarch and a prominent faith leader come together, the moment may appear symbolic, or merely ceremonial. But these two men have such well-established personal histories of interfaith dialogue that their meeting signaled not a concession to a minority population, but a real show of respect to an integral part of Britain’s faith history.
Britain’s King Charles III and Queen Camilla stand before a statue of Pramukh Swami Maharaj, the creator of the the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, in Neasden, London, on Oct. 29, 2025. (Photo courtesy of the Neasden Temple)
The King has spoken of a sovereign’s duty to protect the country’s diversity, including the space for faith and its practice, within what he has described as the United Kingdom’s identity as a “community of communities.” His Christian convictions, he has said, bind him to those who follow other spiritual paths, as well as those who live by secular ideals. In an era when leaders are increasingly scrutinized for either safeguarding or undermining religious freedoms, such visits take on added resonance; what leaders signal through their presence, or diminish through their absence, affects the possibilities for pluralism.
As connections are increasingly mediated by screens and scrolling, distance can breed assumptions, reducing people to categories and flattening their complexity. Charles’ visit demonstrates that showing up still matters, especially in places that hold sacred meaning for their communities. Hearing from the crowd, observing non-verbal cues and listening to the candid conversations in the video coverage, one notices how much is conveyed by physical presence.
In news footage, the visit was often reduced to standard images: The king smiled in recognition as he greeted familiar monks and volunteers and wished several people “a belated Happy Diwali.” Queen Camilla admired the temple’s architecture and praised the design of a new temple being built in Paris. Gifts were exchanged. But from these royals, these smiles, handshakes and brief conversations are the human threads through which respect across faiths and cultures is built.
The intimacy was especially evident as the king and queen greeted devotees on their way out. Many in the crowd had arrived decades ago as refugees from East Africa, built their lives in Britain and had volunteered and donated generously to construct this “home of God.” For them, the moment carried a powerful resonance.
Across Britain and the United States, democracies are fracturing along lines of identity, belief and belonging. The king’s visit showed that simple acts showing respect, being present for one another’s sacred commitments, remains a civic practice worth preserving. The thread of friendship was tied at the visit’s opening with a blessing, “to ensure our bonds remain ever sweet.” The question for Britain is whether, and how, such bonds — between communities, across faiths, amid difference — can endure.
(Tilak Parekh is a researcher in religion and anthropology at the University of Cambridge, studying diaspora Hindu temples. The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of Religion News Service.)