Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
Like the air that we breathe, she always seemed to be there, writes Rev Sydney Maitland. As one who was born in 1951, the only Head of State that I knew of was Her Majesty the Queen, even if I was born during the time of King George VI. But she was always that presence in the land. Far more than a constitutional long stop – although she was definitely that. But whereas politicians and prime ministers, prelates of the church and entertainers come and go, the Queen was always there keeping a watch over the life of the nation. When the nation erupted into discord, her manner and voice would moderate it. When it grieved, she would comfort it. When it rejoiced, she also exulted with it.
But she was more than a grandmother to the nation. Rather, she was anointed to her task at her coronation and she took it with deep seriousness. Whatever she had wanted personally, this was the task appointed to her, but it was up to her how she would fulfil it. And she received and accepted the call to be God’s anointed monarch in our land, there to serve God and her people with solid commitment. This was a commitment that saw her determined to continue in her duty to the land to the very end, knowing that her strength was failing, but knowing also that she had to be there to receive the resignation of one prime minister and to invite a new party leader to form her government. After that, she could relax. It was a final act of service to the land and its people.
And now she has gone home. In the communion of saints she is only an eye blink away, and she is among those with whom we worship God, together with angels and archangels and the whole company of heaven. She is there on a further shore and in a greater light. Death held no fears for her, as she had committed herself to her Lord years and decades before. As a nation our final act will be to commend her soul to God and her body to the place appointed for it.
And so I see her as having surrendered one crown in order to be endowed with another by her Lord. The crown, orb and sceptre of this land are now relinquished and will be taken up by her heir, King Charles III. It will be the same crown, orb and sceptre but a different ministry in the land and should not be compared with or measured against that of the late Queen. His will be a task for this generation with all its tensions and anxieties. And so we will sing with full heart and voice, ‘God save the King.’
