A Ramadan meal and an LGBT+ History Month lecture held at Windsor Castle this year have been praised as examples of the King’s “momentous” commitment to diversity.
The Royal Collection Trust, which manages the royal palaces, highlighted the events in its annual report, released on Tuesday, noting that “inclusion and diversity was a key priority this year” as it hosted several religious and LGBTQ+ celebrations.
For the first time in its 1,000-year history, Windsor Castle hosted an Open Iftar in its state apartments, marking the breaking of the fast for Muslims during Ramadan.
Last autumn, it also held its first Diwali Family Day, which included prayers led by the head priest of the Slough Hindu Temple.
RAMADAN TENT PROJECT / GETTY
|King Charles praised for hosting Ramadan meal and LGBTQ+ lecture at Windsor Castle
At Buckingham Palace, the King’s Gallery hosted its inaugural event for LGBTQ+ History Month in October, “exploring some of the Queer figures represented within the Royal Collection”.
In the report, Royal Collection Trust director Tim Knox said the Iftar meal had been held “with the King’s permission”.
He continued: “Such momentous events, alongside initiatives including the £1 ticket offer at The King’s Galleries, and its trial scheme at Windsor Castle and the Palace of Holyroodhouse, go some way to achieving our aim of finding welcoming and inclusive ways for everyone to enjoy the collection.
“Our ambitions continue to grow with ongoing audience development and learning and community projects helping us to understand more about the audiences who don’t currently visit our sites and how we can encourage them to do so.”
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|The King is understood to have been 'supportive' of the Iftar event
The Iftar, held in March, was organised with the Ramadan Tent Project and brought 350 guests to St George’s Hall. Two reciters from Maidenhead Mosque gave the call to prayer from the hall’s balcony.
Simon Maples, visitor operations director at Windsor Castle, said at the time that the King had been “championing religious diversity and encouraging inter-faith conversation” for many years.
Omar Salha, founder and chief executive of the Ramadan Tent Project, added: “The King is an excellent ambassador for this cause and is committed to community cohesion. We are incredibly grateful for his support towards the British Muslim community.”
For LGBT+ History Month in February, the trust hosted an online lecture titled Queer Art and Artists in the Royal Collection.
RAMADAN TENT PROJECT
|An Open Iftar was held at Windsor Castle so Muslims could break their Ramadan fast
Alice de Quidt, assistant curator of Prints and Drawings, told the audience: “Diverse forms of love and identity have always existed, but they have all too often been left out of history or rewritten entirely. February gives us an opportunity to resurrect this history, bring it to the fore and celebrate it.”
The lecture highlighted figures such as Leonardo da Vinci, who was accused in 1476 of sexual acts with a male goldsmith’s apprentice – charges that were later dropped. While same-sex relationships were common in 15th-century Florence, sodomy was punishable by fine for the first four offences and by death on the fifth.
The accompanying material also featured Sappho, Michelangelo, Chevalier D’Eon, Rosa Bonheur, Oscar Wilde, and David Hockney as part of the Trust’s LGBTQ+ stories.
The Royal Collection Trust is an independently funded department of the Royal Household and receives no public funding. Its income is generated through admissions, retail, donations, and exhibitions, and is reinvested into conservation, public access, and outreach, including subsidised school travel.
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Last year, the Trust recorded an income of £89.9 million – an increase of more than £5 million – driven by record visitor numbers to Buckingham Palace.
The report also detailed internal efforts to promote inclusion, including participation in a Royal Household-wide campaign encouraging staff to share “personal experiences of inclusion and diversity in the workplace”, as well as “training on inclusive leadership and recruitment”.
Of those offered new seasonal roles at Buckingham Palace last year, 45 per cent were from minority ethnic backgrounds.
Four staff from the Royal Collection Trust also joined a six-month programme aimed at helping professionally qualified refugees find fulfilling employment in the UK.