Prayers published to celebrate the Queen's 90th birthday

Prayers: the two prayers have been published to mark the Queen's 90th birthday
PA
Hannah Al-Othman2 February 2016

The Church of England has published prayers to celebrate the Queen's 90th birthday.

Two prayers, available in traditional and modern forms, have been written ahead of the monarch's milestone.

They are intended to be used at national events later this year marking the Queen's birthday.

They have been approved by the Queen, who is head of the Church, and the modern form of one says: "Heavenly Father, as we celebrate the 90th birthday of Her Majesty the Queen, receive our heartfelt thanks for all that you have given her in these 90 years and for all that she has given to her people.

"Continue, we pray, your loving purposes in her, and as you gather us together in celebration, unite us also in love and service to one another; through Jesus Christ our Lord."

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Dr Matthew Salisbury, national liturgy and worship adviser for the Church of England, said: "The prayers offer thanksgiving and praise for the long service of the Queen.

"They ask that through God's grace and inspired by her example of faith and service for others, we may all receive strength and wisdom in our own lives."

The Queen's 90th will be marked with a weekend of national celebrations around the time of her official birthday in June, and with other events to mark the day she was born, April 21 1926.

A service of thanksgiving, attended by the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh, will be held at St Paul's Cathedral on Friday June 10.

The following day the traditional Trooping the Colour ceremony, also known as the Queen's Birthday Parade, will be staged in Horse Guards Parade and on the Sunday the Patron's Lunch will be held in The Mall.

Two graces, sometimes referred to as informal prayers, have also been published for use as thanksgivings at the start of other celebrations such as street parties.

One of the graces reflects the words used in the Queen's first Christmas broadcast in 1952, a year in which her father, George VI, died and it ended with the monarch looking ahead to her Coronation, the following year.

In the speech, delivered on radio, the monarch asked listeners to pray for her on her Coronation day: "...pray that God may give me wisdom and strength to carry out the solemn promises I shall be making, and that I may faithfully serve him and you, all the days of my life".

The Grace reads: "Gracious God, give our Queen continued wisdom and strength to carry out the promises she has made; and bless (this food, and) those who are gathered here, that, sustained by service for others, we may faithfully serve you, all the days of our life."

Additional reporting by the Press Association.

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