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A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Canon Anne Easter

Good morning!

Nobody could have been more surprised than this East End girl when an official looking letter from Buckingham Palace arrived at my home - it invited me to become a Chaplain to Her Majesty the Queen.

Now I honestly thought that one of my computer savvy friends, knowing how much I love the Royal family, had set me up and was quite probably waiting somewhere to leap out and shout ‘Gotcha!’ But, when I called the number given in the letter, a kind lady told me that the invitation was real and asked if I’d like to accept – I did, of course!

Her Majesty has thirty six chaplains in England and Wales and another dozen in Scotland; it’s a sort of church honour and the only requirement is to preach at a royal residence once a year and to attend royal garden parties and chat to lots of lovely people – what’s not to like?? A new cassock, in a shade of red worn only by the Queen’s household, was made for me and I was told to wear it when I attended a garden party so that I could be presented to the Queen.

I was terrified, sure I’d fall on the Queen when I had to curtsey and shake hands simultaneously, and imagining how my mother would beg me to speak ‘properly’. I needn’t have worried and, over the years, I’ve learned that the Queen has a great way of concentrating on the person to whom she’s speaking, of putting them at their ease and of making them feel special. At the garden parties with thousands of people, I could always tell where Her Majesty was, just from the smiles on the faces of those who were around her.

What a huge and unexpected privilege it’s been.

Lord, Give us courage when we find ourselves out of our comfort zone and help us to know that, wherever life takes us, you will be there too.

Amen.

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