Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II visits the set of the long-running television series “Coronation Street,” in Manchester, England, July 8, 2021. (AP Photo/Scott Heppell)
The queen led the nation at regular services honoring the war dead, or offering thanksgiving for her jubilees, but worship was not, for her, only a public show. She attended church regularly throughout her life and is said to have had an uncomplicated, Bible- and prayer-book-based faith.
That love of the Bible was something she shared with American evangelist Billy Graham, whom she invited to preach for her on several occasions. While the closeness the Netflix series “The Crown” suggested between them seems far-fetched, Graham’s son Franklin Graham said Thursday that the queen and his father shared a friendship that “was built on a shared love for Jesus Christ and belief in God’s Word.”
“My father said he found Queen Elizabeth ‘to be a woman of rare modesty and character,’ and made a pledge to pray for her and her family every day. He also appreciated how she often talked about Jesus Christ during her public addresses—there was never any question about where she placed her faith,” said Franklin Graham, who heads the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan’s Purse.
He added: “The Queen was a friend to my father, but more importantly, she was a true friend of the Christian faith. She will be profoundly missed.”
Elizabeth relied on the deans of Windsor — the clerics who run St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle — for spiritual solace.
Her husband and her son Charles, who succeeds her, always displayed a more intellectual curiosity about religion, including a great interest in both other Christian denominations and other faiths as Britain’s religious landscape became increasingly diverse.
Elizabeth expressed an increasing openness as well. She encouraged members of all faiths to be present at great church occasions and in the annual Commonwealth Day service held at Westminster Abbey. She met five popes — a remarkable turnaround for a monarchy that once broke so spectacularly from Rome — though she never went so far as to ask other religious leaders to be a chaplain or offer other spiritual advice.
Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II travels in a carriage to Parliament for the official state opening of Parliament in London, Oct. 14, 2019. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)
There has been talk of disestablishment of the Church of England, even in Anglican circles, although there has been little call for this from other faiths. But Elizabeth’s views seemed apparent when the queen spoke at Lambeth Palace in 2012, suggesting the Church of England might act as a sort of umbrella under which other faiths might shelter, saying Anglicanism “has a duty to protect the free practice of all other faiths in this country.”
At her Platinum Jubilee thanksgiving service at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, in June, Buddhist and Jewish leaders were present alongside Anglicans and other Christians.
On Thursday, many religious leaders shared statements mourning the queen’s death.
In a telegram offering his condolences to Britain’s new monarch, King Charles III, Pope Francis reportedly wrote, “I willingly join all who mourn her loss in praying for the late Queen’s eternal rest, and in paying tribute to her life of unstinting service to the good of the Nation and the Commonwealth, her example of devotion to duty, her steadfast witness of faith in Jesus Christ and her firm hope in his promises.”
