A response from the Bishop of Selby to the death of Her Majesty the QueenSeptember 8th 2022It is with sorrow that I join with you in mourning the death of Her Majesty the Queen at theage of 96, our longest reigning monarch. Over the past 70 years the Queen has been an anchorfor our country, embodying our story and being the face of the United Kingdom. She not onlyserved us faithfully throughout this time but has also been Head of the Commonwealth and Iknow, from growing up in Uganda, something of how much she was held in affection andrespect across its 54 nations and 1.2 billion people who represent one third of the globalpopulation. In Selby many still recall her visit in 1969 with the late Duke of Edinburgh to SelbyAbbey for the Royal Maundy Service, a rare privilege for a parish church and the town.Bearing the title of Defender of the Faith and Supreme Governor of the Church of England,she has been a public Christian, increasingly sharing what this faith meant to her in her annualChristmas Broadcast to the nations. She was the most accessible, though inscrutable, of ourmonarchs yet her passion for her corgis and horses was very public and something of herplayfulness broke through in the Paddington Bear sketch to mark her Platinum Jubilee. Aparticular family memory I have is when she visited our school in Edinburgh and spoke withmy brother about the stool he was making in the woodwork class.So we pray for the new King Charles and the Royal Family in their grief but we do so confidentin the Easter hope of resurrection in which she put her trust. May our Servant Queen rest inpeace and rise in glory.+John SelbyThe Rt Revd Dr John ThomsonBishop of
