What We Can Learn about Faith from Queen Elizabeth II
Writing a spiritual biography of anyone is a daunting task, so when I started a book on the faith of Queen Elizabeth II, I knew I had my work cut out for me. Her Majesty has long been one of my own heroes of the Christian faith, someone who inspires me because she has remained true to herself as a follower of Jesus in a role burdened by relentless pressure. Even as the Queen approaches her ninety-fourth birthday this year, she continues to endure trials within her family and without, compounded as always by the ubiquity of social media and global fascination with the British royal family.
On recent display more than ever during her historic reign, the faith of Queen Elizabeth II remains the still point at the center of a lifetime spent weathering storms, both privately as well as publicly. Tradition, ceremony, history, and culture haven’t made it easy. Layers of conformity, precedent, power, and policy can smother, envelop, and shroud a leader burdened with expectations few of us experience. The notion of a personal faith could simply have become a revered, yet irrelevant, relic of history.
Thankfully, such is not the case. The faith of Queen Elizabeth II seems only to have been strengthened and refined by the fires her various roles require her to confront, whether they be decades of white-hot tabloid headlines, embers of national strife, or the literal conflagration of Windsor Castle in 1992. How else could she keep calm and carry on for almost seven decades? Her Majesty has often acknowledged her reliance on faith, as she did in her 2014 Christmas Broadcast: “For me, the life of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, whose birth we celebrate today, is an inspiration and an anchor in my life.”
The foundation for Her Majesty’s personal faith emerged from the instruction and example witnessed in her parents’ lives. When her uncle David, King Edward VIII, created a constitutional crisis by choosing personal privilege over royal duty, Elizabeth watched the course of her life change overnight. Her father, King George VI, relatively unprepared for the role, accepted the responsibility thrust upon him, and in surrendering himself, became the hero his brother would most likely never have been.
Suddenly, young Princess Elizabeth witnessed the Christian values, beliefs, and practices her parents instilled in her put to the test. She saw firsthand the service and sacrifice her father demonstrated in leading the nation and the Commonwealth through World War II. She watched the king battle personal demons tied to a lifelong stutter in order to lead his subjects with the strength and confidence he believed they deserved in a monarch. The bedtime prayers and Bible readings led by her mother, Queen Elizabeth, took on new relevance.
Her parents’ model of faith was certainly reinforced by the legacy of her great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria. The longest-reigning British monarch prior to Elizabeth II, Queen Victoria provided an extraordinary model of servant leadership, one clearly founded on her devout Christian faith. Victoria is known for being a strict moralist as well as the epitome of what has come to characterize the entire period named for her: propriety, obedience, self-discipline.
Perhaps as much a product of the times as her personal faith, Victoria’s moralism nonetheless included an attitude of service, charity, and evangelism. For many years, she led a Bible study for the children of her servants and the staff at Buckingham Palace. Her church attendance exceeded her ceremonial duties as sovereign and included active ministry to the poor, the sick, and those in need.
Victoria’s daughter recounted an incident in which they were strolling through nearby gardens and learned that the owner of a cottage they passed was quite ill. Concerned, the queen returned the next day, making it clear her visit was not as royalty but as a “good Christian woman.” She then pulled a Bible from a shelf in the other woman’s home and read from chapter 14 of John’s Gospel before concluding, “Put your trust in Jesus and you will soon be in a land where there is no pain. You are a widow, so am I; we shall soon meet our beloved ones.”[1]
Queen Elizabeth II clearly embraced this service-minded legacy of her predecessors, even as she accepted royal duty as her own divine destiny. Now in her seventh decade on the throne, it appears Providence has indeed empowered Her Majesty to steward the monarchy into the twenty-first century. Today, her subjects and admirers no longer require a divine delegate in their quest for spiritual enlightenment. While we have evolved beyond our reliance on the spiritual leadership of others to a more democratic, consumer-based approach, we still consider the ways we see other people living their faith and allow them to influence our own.
Granted, not all spiritual heroes or role models are equal, and some have even turned their influence inward toward accumulating personal wealth, adoration, and attention. At their worst, they become dangerous cult leaders and con artists. At their best, they restore our hope and inspire us to be better people, drawing us back again and again to God’s grace, Christ’s love, and the Spirit’s presence among us.
Discerning the difference can be challenging at times. Even to address, arguably the most intimate aspect of a person’s being, their faith, seems incredibly presumptuous, potentially disrespectful, and particularly dangerous. One can never know what is in the heart of someone else, which is why such matters are indeed better left for God. Witnessing faith in action, however, is often what inspires and sustains us in our own unique spiritual journeys.
Queen Elizabeth II did not choose her role, nor did she refuse it. And she has never used her royal position as a pedestal for self-aggrandizement, self-indulgence, or self-congratulation. Instead, she has accepted her position as sovereign, head of the church, and defender of the faith solemnly and soberly. But clearly duty alone has not fueled Her Majesty’s seven decades of service. Something in the fiber of her faith is clearly informed by her personal relationship with God. Her words and deeds consistently reflect spiritual power as demonstrated in her humility, good humor, and compassion.
Surprising as it may be to some even as it is assumed by others, Queen Elizabeth II has much to teach us about living out our faith and following the example set by Jesus Christ. Early on, she learned what it means to be defined by accepting the call placed on her life, yet made it uniquely her own by the way she has lived, served, and reigned. She discovered how to navigate safe passage between duty and desire. The only way to wear the royal grandeur of the monarchy was to remain clothed in her humanity. And Her Majesty’s Christian faith remains the thread stitching person and personage, duty and desire, together.
[1] Walter Walsh, The Religious Life of Queen Victoria (London: Swan Sonnenschein, 1902), 184.
, is an award-winning novelist, poet, and biographer. His latest book is The Faith of Queen Elizabeth (Zondervan/HarperCollins, 2019). Fascinated by his Celtic ancestry, Dudley holds great affection for British culture, has a half-dozen tattoos from the Book of Kells, and frequently travels to the UK. He and his wife live in Sewanee, Tennessee, and have three adult children. Follow Dudley at www.dudleydelffs.com.
Photograph © Roméo Arnault, used with permission
