The Servant Queen and the King she serves Paperback – 2016

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As she put it, ‘That sacrifice was the dawn of Christianity, and this is why at Christmas time we are inspired by the example of Christ as we celebrate his birth’ (1981). Published in partnership with Bible Society to mark the Platinum Jubilee, this essay both enriches our appreciation of the Queen and challenges us by her example. And I include all those who don’t realise that they deserve thanks and are content that what they do is unseen and unrewarded. Meddai: 'Yn sicr, gallwn fod yn ddiolchgar fod cynifer ohonom, dwy fil o flynyddoedd wedi geni’r Iesu, yn parhau i gael ein hysbrydoli gan ei fywyd a’i neges, a chael ynddo ffynhonnell o gryfder a dewrder. In this fresh analysis, Mark Greene, co-author of The Servant Queen and the King she Serves, looks in depth at what the Queen herself says about her faith.

From a unique position … the last great phase of the transformation of the Empire into Commonwealth and the transformation of the Crown from an emblem of dominion into a symbol of free and voluntary association. And all of that then summed up in that elemental, worshipful confession of her trust in God, that she draws strength ‘from the message of hope in the Christian gospel. They know that there is an eternal truth of much greater significance than our own triumphs and tragedies, and it is embodied by the Child in the Manger. Faith in Christ is not a peripheral pursuit or a leisure-time bolt-on, but something ‘living’ that should shape our whole lives. This book is certainly a valuable resource to understand the foundation of the Queen's integrity, resilience, strength and wisdom.He lived by what he believed and gave us the strength to try to do the same – and, finally, on the cross, he showed the supreme example of physical and moral courage. Of course, back in the 1950s ‘upright’ might well have been in general use, but coming from the mouth of a Queen who read the Bible every day as a child, reads it almost every day as an adult, and attends a church service almost every week, it is extremely likely that the biblical connection was in her mind. Santayana’s morality lies back of the work, that skepticism is wholesome, that thinkers must not surrender lightly the duty of independent thought.

The theme of service was one she came back to often, and in this she took Jesus' example as a pattern for her own life. Her Majesty also alluded to the current problems in the Middle East saying that the world is now experiencing “terrible suffering on an unprecedented scale”.

uk/publications/ihr-books-series/new-historical-perspectives/family-firm-monarchy-media-and-british-public-1932-53 The Family Firm presents the first major analysis of the public projection and reception of the British monarchy’s media image in the period 1932-1953. Yet there is not a smidgen of nostalgia for the empire, not a whiff of the triumphalist bluster about Britain being a ‘world beater’ that characterises current political rhetoric. In that, she gave us a glimpse of the One who left the riches of heaven and made himself nothing, being born in the form of a servant and giving all he had to serve his people. That began to change in the 90s, and by the 2000s she not only said ‘Jesus’, ‘Christ’, or both in most of her addresses, she spoke much more explicitly about her personal commitment. For example, in 1993, she again explored the theme of service, particularly in relation to those who contribute unobtrusively.