Dean & Chapter present Loyal Address to HM The Queen

The Westminster Abbey delegation, which also included members of the Abbey’s College, was among a number of Privileged Bodies who gave Loyal Addresses to the monarch, on Tuesday 27th March 2012.

Loyal Address: 27 March 2012

1. We, Your Majesty’s Dutiful and Loyal Subjects, offer our warmest congratulations and our prayers on Your Majesty’s Diamond Jubilee. We do so as the Dean and Chapter of the Collegiate Church of St Peter, Westminster, and also on behalf of the entire Abbey community.
2. We attach great importance to the close and personal link between the Sovereign and Westminster Abbey. This goes back to the earliest years of the Abbey and the Palace of Westminster during the reign of Edward the Confessor; is enshrined in the Charter granted by your predecessor, Elizabeth I, creating the Collegiate Church; and has continued ever since. It was celebrated in a special day of commemoration in May 2010 of the 450th anniversary of the Collegiate Church which was attended by Your Majesty and His Royal Highness. We also remember this close connection in the prayers offered in the Abbey every day for Your Majesty and for Members of the Royal Family.
3. It gives particular pleasure to the Abbey that, after many years of preparation, it has been possible to have the Abbey’s Statutes, first granted by Elizabeth I, revised, signed by Your Majesty, and formally presented to the Dean and Chapter during Your Majesty’s Jubilee year.
4. The Abbey has always been honoured by the significant Royal events which continue to take place within it. It was a special source of joy that the wedding of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge was held in the Abbey last April. This was a ceremony which brought great delight across both the United Kingdom and the world at large.
5. The Diamond Jubilee embraces not only Your Majesty’s Accession but also your Coronation. We recall with gratitude the solemn Oath of faithfulness and service Your Majesty gave on that occasion. The Abbey looks forward with very great pleasure to the celebration of your Coronation next year, which will be an anniversary of great importance in the life of the nation.
6. The Dean and Chapter wish to assure Your Majesty of the strength of their continuing loyalty, duty and affection. We pray that Almighty God may continue to guide and bless you in the high office to which you have been called, and which you have discharged over the course of sixty years with such grace and wisdom.

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