King Charles III has reflected on the "great cruelty and great kindness" he sees in the world in the face of human suffering and ongoing war, in distributing his annual Easter message.
The British monarch is set to attend the Church of England's annual Maundy Thursday service at the Durham Cathedral in the country's north, where he will also deliver a Royal Maundy address.
In his message this year, Charles says he believes there are three virtues the world in 2025 still needs: "faith, hope and love".
"One of the puzzles of our humanity is how we are capable of both great cruelty and great kindness," the 76-year-old monarch said in his Easter message.
"This paradox of human life runs through the Easter story and in the scenes that daily come before our eyes — at one moment, terrible images of human suffering and, in another, heroic acts in war-torn countries where humanitarians of every kind risk their own lives to protect the lives of others.
"The abiding message of Easter is that God so loved the world — the whole world — that He sent His son to live among us to show us how to love one another, and to lay down His own life for others in a love that proved stronger than death.
"It is with these timeless truths in my mind, and my heart, that I wish you all a blessed and peaceful Easter."
During the annual Royal Maundy service, a religious ceremony is held in which 76 men and 76 women each receive symbolic gifts of specially-minted coins in a centuries-old custom that recognises recipients for their Christian service.
The Church of England says Maundy Thursday is the day Christians remember the Last Supper, in which Jesus shared bread and wine with his disciples before washing their feet.
The king's schedule of royal engagements has been significantly wound back by Buckingham Palace in recent months due to his ongoing cancer treatment.
Several engagements were cancelled last month after Charles was taken to hospital due to side effects he was experiencing from the treatment, before he was later taken back to Clarence House for further rest.
"He very much hopes that [engagements] can be rescheduled in due course and offers his deepest apologies to all those who had worked so hard to make the planned visit possible," the palace said in a statement at the time.
The palace did not detail what the king's side effects were, and has never disclosed what type of cancer the king has. The king's cancer was detected when he had treatment for an enlarged prostate in January 2024.
Charles and Queen Camilla then embarked on a state visit to Italy earlier this month, where the royal couple also paid a surprise private visit to Pope Francis at the Vatican.
Buckingham Palace said that Charles and Camilla "were delighted the pope was well enough to host them — and to have had the opportunity to share their best wishes in person".
That meeting was Charles's first with the Catholic leader since he became monarch and also head of the Church of England in 2022.
