The Faith of Queen Elizabeth: The Poise, Grace, and Quiet Strength Behind the Crown by Dudley Delffs, Zondervan, 2019.
The Servant Queen and the King She Serves by Mark Greene and Catherine Butcher, Bible Society, HOPE, LICC, 2016.
Queen Elizabeth II and Her Church: Royal Service at Westminster Abbey by John Hall, Dean of Westminster, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2012.
I have recently read three books covering Queen Elizabeth II’s faith in part to understand how her faith reinforces her duty and resiliency, and also to better understand the Queen’s deep spirituality. Each book follows a similar format in exploring some of the Queen’s traits in each chapter and then providing examples that support those traits, but each book does so in a unique way. So, despite the similarities in theme and structure, each book will appeal to a different type of reader depending on what one would like to learn.
The Faith of Queen Elizabeth:
This book is a sweet tribute to the Queen’s faith by Dudley Delffs, an unconnected admirer that explores how Her Majesty’s Christian faith may help her conduct her life and stay resilient and calm. In the book, Delffs selects commonly admired traits, including duty and grit, for each chapter, drawing from public examples to show how the Queen embodies those traits to demonstrate her strong faith. At the end of each chapter, Delffs excerpts a conversation he has had with a person he has met while researching the book about the Queen’s faith. Overall, these conversations show anecdotally how people in general, regardless of their stance on the monarchy or religion, believe the Queen’s Christian faith is genuine and admire the gentle way she embodies her spiritual values as an example to others. In being an outsider, Delffs has both an advantage and disadvantage in writing this book. He has the advantage of writing whatever he wants, but is disadvantaged in his access to sources with direct inside knowledge of the Queen’s faith practices. Perhaps due to his inherently limited access, his sourcing is a bit too general. For example, the book leans heavily on the official historical companion book to the tv series The Crown. His frequent references to this book and the series itself, though a great television show, limited my perception of him as an expert. However, for general readers, drawing on a source that most already know does keep him from having to explain too much background detail on the British Monarchy. Even so, he did dig up a few examples I hadn’t heard about before, so I did learn a few things. I think the book would have been strengthened with an introduction explaining his choice of traits and how they tie in biblically. Overall, a general, positive, and pleasant read commenting on one admirer’s views of Her Majesty’s faith.
The Servant Queen:
This pamphlet was issued in honor of the Queen’s 90th birthday by three Christian missionary organizations, Bible Society – of which the Queen is Patron, HOPE, and LICC and the introduction is written by the Queen herself. This pamphlet follows much the same layout as Delffs’ book, but is written a bit tighter and has more access to sources (although none are listed except for photography credits and Christmas speeches.) As it got more to the point quickly, it was more suited to my tastes than Delffs’ book but while it had more authority than his book was a bit less sweet. They also don’t specify why they chose certain traits, but some of their choices are more obviously biblical than Delffs’. Out of the three books, I would recommend this one the most for a quick overview of the Queen’s faith.
Queen Elizabeth II and Her Church:
I wanted to like this book by the former Dean of Westminster Abbey, the Very Reverend Dr John Hall. Unlike the aforementioned works on the Queen’s faith, this book clearly defined the concept of the servant leader in the model of Jesus Christ and then linked that concept to biblical traits (a “fruit of the Spirit” from Galatians 5:22) that were explored further in each chapter. I liked this chapter set up with a service linked to a “fruit of the Spirit” which one could use for personal spiritual development as well as an insight into how the Church of England as an organization embodies, reinforces, and cultivates the Queen’s values. However, in some chapters this worked and in others the link was tenuous or not fully developed. The book also explores more organization and programmatic workings of Westminster Abbey, to include how significant services are developed and conducted, which was interesting to learn. However, I sometimes felt a bit lost as to the significance of some of the choices of hymns or readings, while a person who is more familiar with Anglican services may understand the significance of these choices and how they are linked to the “fruit of the Spirit” for the chapter. It is clear that the Very Reverend Dr John Hall enjoyed his time as Dean of Westminster and wanted to share its history and deep significance. Overall, I found this book useful in expanding my knowledge of Westminster Abbey and its royal connection, but perhaps someone who is more familiar with Anglicanism may find it more moving than I did.
