Queen Elizabeth II died on September 8, 2022. She was Britain’s longest-serving monarch. Her reign over a seven-decade period weathered challenges, from wars to the Pandemic to family upheaval. She was 96.[i] What carried the Queen through so many years? Was it her faith in Jesus?
As a young Princess, Queen Elizabeth began exemplifying her caring nature during a radio broadcast in 1940 expressing her concern for children who had been evacuated during the war. She was only 14 years old. “My sister, Margaret Rose, and I feel so much for you, as we know from experience what it means to be away from those we love the most of all,” Elizabeth said then.[ii]
Loyal to her country and her position since her televised coronation in 1952, she was also dedicated to her marriage of 74 years. Her husband Philip died in April of 2021, and some surmise the Queen died of a broken heart.[iii] In her first Christmas broadcast after the death of her father, King George VI, Queen Elizabeth II asked “pray for me…that God may give me wisdom and strength to carry out the solemn promises I shall be making, and that I may faithfully serve Him and you, all the days of my life.”[iv]
The Queen often spoke of her father’s teachings of hymns to her as a child. “In December 1939, King George VI addressed the nation on a BBC radio broadcast on Christmas Day…the King spoke words of peace to calm his nation, he read the preamble of a poem that had been brought to his attention by his 13-year-old daughter, Princess Elizabeth.”[v] That poem was entitled God Knows. King George’s reading of the poem’s preamble was to “reassure the people of England that their future was secure…in the hands of God.”[vi]
In her Christmas message, in the year 2000, the Queen spoke: “to many of us, our beliefs are of fundamental importance. For me, the teachings of Christ and my own personal accountability before God provide a framework in which I try to lead my life. I, like so many of you, have drawn great comfort in difficult times from Christ’s words and example.”[vii]
Queen Elizabeth was a regular church attender. Though one of her titles was Supreme Governor of the Church of English, while in Scotland she preferred attending a Presbyterian church.
She had an intense interest in all faiths and sought to learn about them. Those close to her suggest that to the Queen, her faith went far beyond protocol and duty. Lord John Sentamu suggested that “the Queen was herself an effective preacher and evangelist…so immersed in scripture she would evangelize naturally.”[viii]
Regardless of politics or what people think of the monarchy or the United Kingdom in general, Queen Elizabeth II reigned in dignity and grace and with scriptures deeply embedded in her soul. It appears God saved the Queen. Foundations of Truth hereby waives all claim of copyright (economic and moral) in this work and immediately places it in the public domain; it may be used, published, edited, and distributed in any manner whatsoever without any attribution or notice to Foundations of Truth.
[i] https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/08/world/europe/queen-elizabeth-dead.html [ii] https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/08/world/europe/queen-elizabeth-dead.html [iii] https://www.livemint.com/news/world/queen-elizabeth-died-of-broken-heart-royal-expert-decodes-double-rainbow-11664166452068.html [iv] https://christianity.org.uk/article/queen-elizabeths-faith [v] https://reasonsforhopejesus.com/queen-elizabeth-christian-in-heaven/ [vi] https://reasonsforhopejesus.com/gate-of-the-year/ [vii] https://reasonsforhopejesus.com/queen-elizabeth-christian-in-heaven/ [viii] https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-62942772
