FROM THE VICAR
At 10:45am on 6th February 1952, it was announced that King George VI had died in his sleep. His eldest daughter, the 25 year old Princess Elizabeth, who was at that moment in Kenya, became Queen Elizabeth II. The main celebrations for Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee are understandably planned for June, when we may hope that the weather might be kinder (and I am sure that our village will play its part to the full!), but it is 6th February on which she reaches the milestone of 70 years as Queen.
Never in our nation’s history has the petition in the National Anthem ‘long to reign over us’ been so abundantly answered. Many of us will remember no other monarch. And while it cannot be denied that she lives in wealth and comfort, hers has been a long life devoted to public service in which there have been very few missteps. No amount of material provision can detract from the significant workload she has maintained even well into her nineties. In many ways, she has given up her own identity – we know little of her own personal tastes or political opinions for instance – in order to assume the greater identity of Head of State of this country and many others. Some may question the place of a hereditary monarchy in modern society, but by her own conduct the Queen has certainly shown that there is value in a figurehead who is above party politics. Where too often others have sought to divide people, she has done her best to be a unifying figure. Where others have been endlessly looking for ways to flout the rules or to exercise their own personal power, she has tried to do the ‘right thing’, perhaps most poignantly seen in the image of her sitting alone at the funeral last year of her husband of 73 years, HRH The Duke of Edinburgh. Underpinning it all has been her own undemonstrative but very real Christian faith, glimpses of which we often see and hear in her annual Christmas broadcast.
No human being is perfect, and the Queen is no exception, but perhaps her seventy years (and more) of faithful service to her countries and people can serve as an example for all of us to emulate in our own places and ways. For we can all seek to unite our communities rather than divide them. We can all hold our own preferences and opinions to be less important than the common good. And we can all build our lives, as the Queen has done, on the firm foundation of Jesus Christ.
May the celebrations of her Jubilee, when they come, be joyful community events for all of us; but let us not forget that it was on a quiet February day 70 years ago that Princess Elizabeth heard the news from afar that her father had died, and that the crown was therefore now hers. Undoubtedly that burden has at times been heavy, and there are probably things that she would do differently if she had the chance. Such things are probably for the long distance of history to decide. For now, may we have many more years of singing with heart and voice: God save the Queen.
Fr David