What is it about the British monarchy that makes it so unique, indeed more than unique, a mystical even sacred institution? Over the seventy years of her reign poets and painters have tried to capture something of the aura of divine authority that resides in the person of the monarch and the institution of monarchy.

The last poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy caught something of the essence of that authority that weighs heavily on the head of the Queen. (See poem below)

The Crown translates a woman to a Queen,
Endless gold circling itself.
An O like a well, fathomless for the years to drown in.

A young woman, only 26 when she succeeded her father, but now the inheritor of a thousand years of history and tradition. A lonely place to be, set apart from the rest of society and yet embodying the hopes and dreams of all those who call her their Queen.

Pietro Annigoni’s ( 1910 – 1988) portrait of the Queen is perhaps one of the best known. Commissioned by the Worshipful Company of Fishmongers in 1954, it is not on public display, but copies hang in many British Embassies around the world. It captures the young Queen just a year after her coronation alone in an English landscape.

Annigoni confessed to being at a loss when faced with the task but the Queen put him at ease. As they spoke she told him how as a girl she had watched people through the windows. These words were the inspiration for the portrait.

“Her words were like a searchlight, lighting my way,” he said. “ I saw her immediately as the Queen who although dear to the hearts of millions of people whom she loved, was herself alone and far off”

It may be that he also had in mind the words spoken In 1947 on her 21st birthday. The Queen, then Princess Elizabeth, made this solemn vow before God and the people of the Empire:

“I declare before you all that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great Imperial family, to which we all belong, but I shall not have the strength to carry out this resolution alone unless you join in it with me, as I now invite you to do... God help me to make good my vow, and God bless all of you who are willing to share it”

Her words reflect the words of Christ himself: “The Kings of the Gentiles lord it over them, but I am among you as one who serves” Luke 22: 27. In 1952 on the death of her father George VI, Princess Elizabeth became Queen of Great Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and 50 other lands.

Fifteen months later at her coronation in Westminster Abbey, the vow she made as a young woman became a reality as she was consecrated with holy oil as God’s ‘Anointed servant’. Only after this solemn act did she take up the ‘emblems of majesty.

As her trust is a sacred one, her first responsibility is to God. She is set apart by this act of anointing with the words ‘as Kings, Priests and Prophets were anointed’ The Investiture which follows these words serves to emphasise this God-given authority.

As the Archbishop placed in her hands the royal Orb, he says: “When you see this Orb under the Cross remember that the whole world is subject to the power and empire of Christ’. After this, the Queen’s ring, the wedding ring of England is placed on the fourth finger of the Queen’s hand to indicate that she is wedded to her people.

Today we celebrate the Queen’s faithfulness to these vows over the tumultuous 70 years of her reign. Under the intense glare of the media’s spotlight, and throughout the social upheavals, and family troubles of her long reign she has lived by the words she spoke then.

On the occasion of her Golden Jubilee 2002, she once again returned to her commitment to God and service to her people. “For me, the teachings of Christ and my own accountability before God provide a framework in which I try to lead my life”

Why should the Queen’s faith be such an issue for us today? We live in a secular age in which the trappings of religious life have been overthrown, and yet we live in a nation that still holds itself accountable before God.

Unlike other countries we do not have a written constitution, nor are we a democracy accountable solely to the wishes of the people. Instead, we live by an ancient text that has shaped our society for a thousand years, the Bible. Along with the symbols of royal power, the monarch is handed a bible with the words:

“This is the most valuable thing the world affords. “Here is wisdom; this is the royal Law; these are the lively oracles of God.” This ancient wisdom tells us that all authority is from God himself, “By me Kings reign and rulers make laws that are just... I walk in the ways of righteousness and along the paths of justice.” Proverbs 8: 15/20.

The long and glorious reign of our Queen is a testament not just to her faithfulness but to our just and gracious God.

Rev. Simon Brignall

The Crown
The Crown translates a woman to a queen,
Endless gold circling itself.
An O like a well, fathomless for the years to drown in.
History’s bride, anointed, blessed for a Crowning.
One head alone can know its weight,
On throne, in pageantry and feel it still in private space.

When it’s lifted, not a hollow thing but a measuring.
No halo, treasure, but a valuing.
Decades and duty, time gifted.
The Crown is old light,
Journeying from skulls of Kings to living Queen.
Its jewels glow, virtues,
Loyalty’s ruby, blood deep.
Saphire, ice resilience.
Emerald, evergreen
The shy pearl, humility.
“My whole life, whether it be long or short, devoted to your service.”
Not lightly worn.

Carol Ann Duffy on the occasion of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.
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