King Charles of Great Britain has sparked outrage and made one of the great unforced errors of recent UK history. After hosting an iftar at Windsor Castle last year and delivering messages for the Muslim holidays of Eid and Ramadan this year, he refused to offer an Easter message.

The decision is striking. As King, Charles is the head of the Christian Church of England. And his country is deeply polarized amid rising extremism, as well as reports of the government’s years-long institutional failure to investigate and prosecute sexual abuse of young girls by Islamist gangs.

The modern monarchy wields no political power. It exists only to provide a national symbol of unity, stability, and continuity. If it no longer serves that purpose, the taxpayers who subsidize it are justified in asking: What, exactly, is it for?