Queen Elizabeth II at rest

With winds of change, a testimony to tradition and faith

“Death is the door to glory,” said Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby in his sermon to a somber pageantry gathered at Westminster Abbey to lay to rest Queen Elizabeth II.

In a West besieged by winds of change, the funeral service on Monday was a testimony to longstanding tradition and Christian faith. With war at Europe’s doorstep, fractured postwar alliances, and religious conflict, the 2,000 mourners at Westminster—world leaders, dignitaries, and family members, plus an estimated 4 billion watching around the world—saw a showcase to British solidarity. Only weeks ago it was not a given. No one could be sure just how the public would transfer its allegiance to Queen Elizabeth’s divorced and once scandalized heir, now King Charles III. And few could vouch for the stability of a government already in transition, Queen Elizabeth’s death coming only weeks after scandal forced from office the government of Conservative Party leader Boris Johnson.

The Queen’s casket enters Westminster Abbey

Americans riven by political rancor perhaps can only wonder at the wheels of constitutional monarchy rolling forward with bipartisan accord. And at Brits in recent days showing reverent attachment to a monarchy with roots in Anglo-Saxon England and early medieval Scotland. Johnson, days after his ouster, gave to rousing cheers a tribute in Parliament to the Queen: “She showed the world not only how to reign over a people, but how to give, how to love, and how to serve.”

The state funeral, much like her coronation in 1953, centered on Queen Elizabeth’s devotion to Christian faith. Scripture passages like 1 Corinthians 15 on resurrection and a hymn from the Scottish psalter, all chosen by the queen before her death, were followed by passages from John Donne, a choral arrangement of Psalm 34 by Ralph Vaughan Williams composed for her coronation, and a new anthem from Romans 8.

In his sermon, Welby said, “The pattern for many leaders is to be exalted in life and forgotten after death. The pattern for all who serve God—famous or obscure, respected or ignored—is that death is the door to glory.”

Later at St George's Chapel, Windsor, where the queen was laid to rest, Very Rev David Conner noted her “uncomplicated yet profound Christian faith.” He said, “In the midst of our rapidly changing and frequently troubled world, her calm and dignified presence has given us confidence to face the future, as she did, with courage and with hope.”

That Christianity was fundamental to her service stands in contrast to an intensely secular British society. “Paradoxically, that is one of the things that helped her rule over an increasingly multi-faith society,” said historian Tom Holland, author of the 2019 bestseller Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World. “Because she took her faith seriously they felt that she took their faith seriously … there is a feeling that a ruler who takes it seriously is likely to understand Jewish or Muslim or Hindu devotion in a way that an overtly secular monarch would not.”

The state funeral, for its decorous roots in the past, also made room for modern, multi-faith Britain. Other religious representatives—including the country’s Jewish, Sikh, Hindu, and Muslim leaders—were part of the procession into Westminster. Female clergy, along with Prime Minister Liz Truss, read scripture passages. And a series of pastoral prayers came not only from the state Church of England clerics but also Catholic, Pentecostal, and other Protestant leaders. BBC full coverage of the funeral is here and photos are here.

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