Our Faithful Queen

trustinG
PraYers
By 1 May 1953, as the countdown
to her Coronation began, the
prayer she was invited to pray
using the thees and thous
language of the day, was based on
the words of Jesus. He said: ‘I am
the way and the truth and the life’
– words which give all Christians,
including queens and kings,
confidence that they do not need
to take the journey through life alone. The prayer
could be translated into contemporary language as:
Lord Jesus Christ, you are the way, the truth and
the life: Keep me from wandering from your ways.
Help me to trust you, the truth, and to be filled
with your life. May your Holy Spirit teach me to
live the right way, to be truthful, and to be filled
with your life, living to please
you. Amen.
Looking ahead to the moment
when she would kneel in private
prayer in front of Westminster
Abbey’s altar as the ceremony
began, the Devotions invited her
Publicly and privately
the Queen put her
trust in God and
drew strength
from him
to use: ‘the simplest words of
trust in God and of trusting
oneself to God’ – again words
from the Bible:
‘In quietness and trust
is your strength…’
written by the 8th-century BC Israelite
prophet Isaiah – Isaiah chapter 30 verse 15
‘Do not let your hearts be troubled.
You believe in God; believe also in me.’
Jesus’ words recorded by John, in his eye-witness account
of Jesus' life, John's Gospel chapter 14 verse 1
Although life’s journey had taken an unexpected
turn, publicly and privately the
Queen put her trust in God
and drew strength from him
for the task ahead.
12
Top left: Princess Elizabeth in her Auxiliary
Territorial Service (ATS) uniform, 1945.
Bottom left: with Princess Anne, the Welsh pony,
Greensleeves, and the corgis, Whisky and Sugar.
Right: with the Duke of Edinburgh and their
children Charles and Anne, 1951.