The “Party At The Palace” may have been the emotional highpoint of the Golden Jubilee, but Queen Elizabeth II has made no secret of the fact that for her, the thanksgiving service at St Paul’s Cathedral on Tuesday was the most important of all the festivities.
Almost one million people came out to greet the Queen as she made her way in the Gold State Coach to the majestic cathedral. On arrival, the monarch and her husband Prince Philip were led, amidst a fanfare of trumpets, to their place in front of the altar. Behind them in the front row, were their children, Prince Charles, Prince Andrew and Princess Anne, all in full dress uniform. And seated next to their respective parents were Princes William and Harry and Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie.
A congregation of royals, dignitaries and representatives of charities and professions gathered to honour the Queen’s service to the country. In his sermon, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr George Carey paid tribute to her “steadfastness” and thanked her for her devotion and dedication during an extraordinary 50 years. The Archbishop told the 2,400 strong congregation: “The range of our continuing celebrations tells us something important. They tell us that, unlike so much in the modern world, this relationship, the one between Sovereign and people has grown stronger and deeper with the passage of time.”
Among the congregation were Prime Minister Tony Blair, the leader of the opposition Ian Duncan Smith and leader of the Liberal party Charles Kennedy. The service began with a bidding read by the Dean of St Paul’s the Very Reverend Dr John Moses. “”We come to this cathedral church to give thanks to Almighty God for the long reign of Her Majesty the Queen and to rejoice together at this time in her Golden Jubilee.”
What followed was a feast of music and pageantry that embraced many traditions of the Christian faith. The president of the Methodist Conference, Reverend Christina Le Moignan, and the Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, joined in a litany of thanksgiving. From the Commonwealth, the High Commissioners for Kenya and Barbados, Nancy Kirui and Peter Simmons, read the invocation.
After the ceremony, the Queen left the service by car to attend a service at Guildhall.
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
