To have authority is to be the author of a set of circumstances. The Queen’s authority under God is to play her part in writing the story of this nation. Her authority is defined and limited by the constitution, but it is also nourished and conditioned by relatedness. What we celebrated at the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee was the quality of her relationship with this nation and commonwealth. On February 6th 1952 her Father died and she became Queen. On the 2nd June 1953 she was crowned Queen. At that service the Archbishop of Canterbury anointed the Queen with holy oil, on her hands, her head and her heart – it was a moment the cameras did not see. Just as priests and bishops are anointed during their ordination, so the Monarch is anointed. It is a sign of her vocation and calling. After she was anointed she was given the orb and scepter, the staff of authority and the symbol of the globe which is surmounted by a cross, identifying the ultimate source of all worldly power as vested in the crucified Christ. Her authorization comes from above not below. Her legitimacy as head of state comes not from popular election but from her acknowledgement of the higher authority of God.
And so on this basis we might think of the Queen as a lay minister to the nation. The ministry she was anointed to perform is not unlike the ministry of a parish priest. She has to meet people from all walks of life; she presides over numerous rituals of naming, dedication and commemoration; she entertains and honours and comforts, finding the right words to say, behaving graciously, dignified, yet as Archbishop Rowan said, never standing on her dignity, making their day for the people she encounters. It is a ministry which requires enormous commitment, attentiveness, and a deep sense of reliance on God’s help in carrying out her vocation.
It is a ministry which also requires a sense of humour. During the coronation it is traditional for the Bishop of Durham to stand at the Queen’s right hand. Michael Ramsey was then Durham’s Bishop – a man of great physical stature with a balding head surrounded by a halo of white hair and eyebrows even more unruly than those of our present Archbishop. It is said that during the final rehearsal, the Queen asked Michael Ramsey if he could keep his eyebrows under control because they made her giggle. And that is the key to ritual dignity – to take what you are doing seriously but not to take yourself too seriously in doing it.
Of course her ministry is international as well as local. It is based on years of travelling, and meeting politicians in difficult circumstances as well as being confronted by often unusual ceremonies and forms of entertainment, not to mention having to eat delicacies unfamiliar to an English palate. The most recent meeting with Martin McGuiness shows how important is the symbolic nature of her role; though she may not be involved in negotiations, a shake of her hand expresses all that the negotiations may have a achieved and more. The symbolism sets people’s minds moving on new lines and in new directions.
We rarely ever see or think of the Queen as being alone. We see her bearing the difficulties of her own family life at the same time as she has to play this key role in the family of the nation. To know how to be both a public and a private person, to know how to be yourself and yet to be available to be what others want you to be is a key task of all leadership and authority. This was the task she was crowned for; building a relationship with the nation which at a deep and often unconscious level gives us a sense of who we are as a nation. And for 60 years through some of the most rapid change our society has ever experienced she has enabled monarchy to provide us with a sense of underlying stability and a secure identity. So in this Jubilee we give thanks for her ministry and we pray for her that as long as she reigns over us she may find f
The Vicar Writes
Stephen Tucker