Sixty years ago on Sunday 2nd June, the coronation of Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor took place at Westminster Abbey. During the Service for the Coronation, the Queen made this oath:
Archbishop of Canterbury: Will you to the utmost of your power maintain the Laws of God and the true profession of the Gospel?
The Queen: All this I promise to do.
If you look at any coin with the Queen’s portrait on it you will see round her head ‘ELIZABETH II D.G. REG. F.D.’ This is short for ‘Elizabeth II Dei Gratia Regina Fidei Defensor’. This can then be translated as ‘Elizabeth II, by the Grace of God, Queen, Defender of the Faith’.
The Queen’s position is inseparable from the Christian faith as the supreme governor of the Church of England. As a country we are in the privileged position of having a monarch who has a deep and genuine personal faith. She has kept her promise to profess the Gospel and defend the Christian faith not just out of duty, but because it is part of her personal identity. If you look back on her Christmas speeches over the last few years, it quickly becomes apparent just how much her faith means to her:
The simple facts of Jesus’ life give us little clue as to the influence he was to have on the world. As a boy he learnt his father’s trade as a carpenter. He then became a preacher, recruiting twelve supporters to help him. But his ministry only lasted a few years and he himself never wrote anything down. In his early thirties he was arrested, tortured and crucified with two criminals. His death might have been the end of the story, but then came the resurrection and with it the foundation of the Christian faith.
Even in our very material age the impact of Christ’s life is all around us. If you want to see an expression of Christian faith you have only to look at our aweinspiring cathedrals and abbeys, listen to their music, or look at their stained glass windows, their books and their pictures.
But the true measure of Christ’s influence is not only in the lives of the saints but also in the good works quietly done by millions of men and women day in and day out throughout the centuries.
Many will have been inspired by Jesus’ simple but powerful teaching: love God and love thy neighbour as thyself – in other words, treat others as you would like them to treat you. His great emphasis was to give spirituality a practical purpose.
To many of us our beliefs are of fundamental importance. For me the teachings of Christ and my own personal accountability before God provide a framework in which I try to lead my life. I, like so many of you, have drawn great comfort in difficult times from Christ’s words and example.” (2000)
“I know just how much I rely on my own faith to guide me through the good times and the bad. Each day is a new beginning, I know that the only way to live my life is to try to do what is right, to take the long view, to give of my best in all that the day brings, and to put my trust in God. Like others of you who draw inspiration from your own faith, I draw strength from the message of hope in the Christian gospel.” (2002)
“For me, as a Christian, one of the most important of these teachings is contained in the parable of the Good Samaritan, when Jesus answers the question, Who is my neighbour?
It is a timeless story of a victim of a mugging who was ignored by his own countrymen but helped by a foreigner, and a despised foreigner at that.
The implication drawn by Jesus is clear. Everyone is our neighbour, no matter what race, creed or colour. The need to look after a fellow human being is far more important than any cultural or religious differences.” (2004)
“I hope that, like me, you will be comforted by the example of Jesus of Nazareth who, often in circumstances of great adversity, managed to live an outgoing, unselfish and sacrificial life. Countless millions of people around the world continue to celebrate his birthday at Christmas, inspired by his teaching.
He makes it clear that genuine human happiness and satisfaction lie more in giving than receiving; more in serving than in being served.
We can surely be grateful that, two thousand years after the birth of Jesus, so many of us are able to draw inspiration from his life and message, and to find in him a source of strength and courage.” (2008)
“Although we are capable of great acts of kindness, history teaches us that we sometimes need saving from ourselves – from our recklessness or our greed.
God sent into the world a unique person – neither a philosopher nor a general, important though they are, but a Saviour, with the power to forgive.
Forgiveness lies at the heart of the Christian faith. It can heal broken families, it can restore friendships and it can reconcile divided communities. It is in forgiveness that we feel the power of God’s love.
In the last verse of this beautiful carol, O Little Town Of Bethlehem, there’s a prayer:
O Holy Child of Bethlehem,
Descend to us we pray.
Cast out our sin
And enter in.
Be born in us today.
It is my prayer that on this Christmas day we might all find room in our lives for the message of the angels and for the love of God through Christ our Lord.” (2011)
“This is the time of year when we remember that God sent his only son ‘to serve, not to be served’.
“He restored love and service to the centre of our lives in the person of Jesus Christ.
“It is my prayer this Christmas Day that his example and teaching will continue to bring people together to give the best of themselves in the service of others.
“The carol, In The Bleak Midwinter, ends by asking a question of all of us who know the Christmas story, of how God gave himself to us in humble service: ‘What can I give him, poor as I am? If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb; if I were a wise man, I would do my part’.
“The carol gives the answer ‘Yet what I can I give him – give my heart’. (2012)
Queen Elizabeth II has become one of our nation’s greatest evangelists. At a time when secularism is flooding through our institutions she remains an unwavering advocate for the need to know God in our lives. Since 1953 she has dedicated herself as much to the Christian faith as she has to our country, and for this we should all be thankful.
Categories: The Queen
The Girl Guides – replacing God with myself 
Time for a short break 
The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the benefits of celebrating community 
Reflections on the Queen’s Speech (what was good and what was missing) 
God and Politics in the UK 
Thanks very much for this Gillan. Well done.
A loud Amen to this. We are so fortunate as a nation to have such a Queen. Her life of dedication and her vibrancy into her old age speaks volumes, and her stabilising influence on our Christian heritage and its values in society may only be realised fully when she is missed.
One can only guess how she must feel inwardly about many of the directions in which our society is determinedly heading. What challenge might it be to her “to do the utmost in her power to maintain the Laws of God and the true profession of the Gospel” when the gay marriage bill comes to the Palace for her signature?
I sincerely appreciate the details about this event in the history of Christianity.
I think she has been a truly remarkable woman.
Thankful for what, exactly? For keeping us in a state of infantile beguilement?
According to the 1910 Accession Declaration, the ascending monarch has to make anti-Papal affirmations of the rights and privileges of the Church of England. Despite this, QEII, before her coronation, requested prayers from all faiths. And it is evident that, in recent decades, our monarchy has been moving towards a multi-faith position. The Queen, for example in making a statement to a meeting of eight faith representatives at the commencement of her Diamond Jubilee celebrations, is arguably deviating from her constitutional responsibilities. And then we have Charles, the wannabe ‘Defender of Faith’ (not the faith), who emphasises ‘the importance of the sacred’. This is a festering problem, to which parliament will need to attend before the next accession, considering Charles’s declared greater sympathy for his religious subjects.
There is a big question as you point out of what happens when Charles becomes king. It appears to be an elephant in the room that few people want to discuss at the moment.