SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - While King Charles's accession to the throne means there are many issues he'll no longer speak freely on, he's already made his views towards Islam and Muslim people clear, writes Erwin Renaldi in the Australian publication ABC News.

"The Islamic world is the custodian of one of the greatest treasuries of accumulated wisdom and spiritual knowledge available to humanity," said the then-prince in a 2010 speech about Islam and the environment at Oxford University.

He had a fascination with Islam, attempting to learn Arabic so he could read the Quran, as revealed in the book Charles At Seventy: Thoughts, Hopes and Dreams. As a Patron of the Oxford Centre of Islamic Studies, the King spoke in 1993 about building connections between the Islamic and Western worlds.

"I believe wholeheartedly that the links between these two worlds matter more today than ever before, because the degree of misunderstanding between the Islamic and Western worlds remains dangerously high," he said. During a sermon earlier this month at the Cambridge Central Mosque, English Islamic scholar Abdal Hakim Murad said Charles deserved credit for his efforts to encourage "reconciliation".

"In an age when misunderstandings about the Muslim religion are widespread, we welcome the fact that the new head of state has a long record of sympathy for Islam, having made many statements in favour of better coexistence, respect and understanding," Professor Murad told the ABC.

"It is important for Muslims to appreciate that the beauty of their religion is understood by significant figures in the British establishment."