The Queen, Her Majesty Elizabeth II, is robed in splendor.  Still bare-headed before God, not yet “Inthroned,” she has been endued with royal majesty and Anointed for the gifts and graces of sovereignty that come only from the Spirit of God.  St. Edward’s Chair has been her seat, as it has been for sovereigns before her for hundreds of years.  Beneath it lay the Stone of Scone (the “Stone of Destiny,”) Scottish Coronation Stone, captured but returned to the Scots, with the proviso that it be on hand for the Coronation of every British monarch.  More than the non-British can understand, this day has not been Elizabeth’s alone; it has belonged, it has been sacred, to her and to her people together.

As perhaps “they” have not always understood the roots and the effect of American liberty, “we” have also not always comprehended why the British would wish to have a King or Queen to stand for them before God.  Some monarchs have done just that; others have not.  Some have been fiercely protective of their country and their subjects; others have been only fierce, and even reprobate.  It is likely that Elizabeth’s father, King only through the abdication of Edward VIII, kept Great Britain from Nazi overthrow and maintained a vital resistance until intervention prevailed at last.

Interviews with police officers, statesmen, her ladies-in-waiting, peers in attendance, choristers, and by-standers who took part in the great Coronation Day of 1953 repeat the same sentiment … if they could re-live any twenty-four hour period in their lives, it would be that day.  It was a holy occasion of calling upon God, of hoping that He would give them grace in their earthly sovereign, of being deeply grateful that Brittania remains.

They have different personal recollections, but so many tell how delicate and young Elizabeth looked, and yet how perfectly ready and suited for the job at hand.  They say that the standing was interminable, but the ceremony seemed brief.  They all say that the sounds, the music and the intense volume of the choirs and the rustling of her robes and the shouts of acclaim, were the most exhilarating parts of the whole.  Interviews fifty years later brought a glaze over their eyes and caused their voices to break with emotion.

We are taking time today, just as there were a couple of moments during the ceremony when time itself seemed to stand still, to be there with her and to be here together, robed in the garments of praise and righteousness, pure with the purity of our redemption, anointed by the Spirit of God, without oaths but with the decision that God will honor and to which He responds: we will walk with God.  We will be led by, we will be filled with His Spirit.  Our lives are His, and He is our life.

Her Majesty has out-lived a great many of those who were in attendance, and we give thanks for her long life.  Long live Queen Elizabeth!  It must be wonderful to have anthems sung, people asking wherever one goes, that God may give one a long life, full of happiness, victory, and choice gifts from His tremendous store.  (The essentials from God Save the Queen)

The Word of the Lord tells us that songs are sung over us, and these not by choristers but by God Himself (Zephaniah 3:17.)  Perhaps angels join in.  What does He sing; what are the lyrics of His Song?  Some of them are penned in the Song of Songs, words like  . . .

You are altogether beautiful, my darling;
    there is no flaw in you. …

 You have stolen my heart, my sister, my bride; 
you have stolen my heart
 with one glance of your eyes,
with one jewel of your necklace.

How delightful is your love, my sister, my bride! 
How much more pleasing is your love than wine,
and the fragrance of your perfume more than any spice!  (Song of Songs 4:7-10)

         Who can answer a love like this?  How humbling must that Day have been for Her Majesty!  The love and the honor her peoples give to her has always been her support and her stay … but we are loved by God.  He bears us in His arms.  He is the Lifter of our Heads.  He has loved us with an everlasting love and drawn us with cords of love.  His delight is in us, His faithful ones.  Our seat is unspeakably higher than her Chair and even than her Throne … we are seated in heaven even now, with God in Christ (Colossians 3:1, 2)   We trust that her Throne was high to her because her soul was, as ours, God’s own.

We have a few more days to spend together, and we will see Elizabeth crowned and enthroned.  May God grant that before this week is past, we will see ourselves where we belong, in Christ, at the right hand of God, loved, strengthened, forgiven … and royal.

Detail from Pietro Annigoni’s portrait of Her Majesty,

National Gallery