‘Queen Elizabeth had no regrets. She was at peace in the days before she died and her thoughts dwelled upon her faith, on her father and upon the sheer beauty of Balmoral’

Despite the family troubles that haunted her in the last years of her life, Her Majesty Elizabeth II met her Maker in peace and without regret, according to the senior cleric who was with her in Balmoral just days before she passed away.

The Right Reverend, dr. Iain Greenshields, then moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, spent a few days at the castle last summer as the Queen’s guest, as was traditional.

Her Majesty was weak, he told me, but in a series of one-on-one conversations he found her mentally sharp and contemplative, preoccupied with her faith and that of her father, George VI.

“It would be normal for a moderator to talk about matters of faith, but I was very interested in how much she wanted to talk about her own matters,” he recalled this week.

The Christian faith was the basis of her reign, says Catherine Pepinster. She had a strong and straightforward style of faith. Pictured is seen leaving St. George’s Chapel, Windsor, after a service to mark Prince Philip’s 80th birthday

The former moderator of The Church of Scotland, the Rt Rev Dr. Ian Greenshields. Dr. Greenshields spoke to Her Majesty in the days before she passed away

It was her platinum anniversary year and so she looked back. She had a remarkable memory. She had no regrets and was at peace with it.

“She also mentioned her father—George VI—and the great influence his faith had on herself.”

Dr. Greenshields said he was surprised his visit had not been cancelled, as he found Queen Elizabeth weaker than he expected.

However, the Queen would have wanted him to be there and deliver the sermon he was to deliver at Crathie Church – just as Her Majesty was determined to meet Boris Johnson and Liz Truss for the Prime Minister’s handover.

Dr. Greenshields explained that he was one of the few visitors at the time; the number had been reduced for fear of tiring the queen.

Only six people were at dinner during the three nights he was there, including: Sophie Wessex (now the Duchess of Edinburgh), the Princess Royal and her husband, Commander Sir Timothy Laurence, John Warren, the horse trainer and race manager of the queen, and the queen herself.

During those last meals, the Queen spoke of her faith and continued to do so in private conversations with Dr Greenshields. Her love for Scotland, and Balmoral in particular, came across.

“At one point in our conversations, she went to the window and said, ‘Who wouldn’t want to be here?’ She was in a very quiet, private place. She was at peace with it.’

Dr. Greenshields, who resigned as moderator in May, delivered the Thanksgiving sermon for the life of Elizabeth II at St Giles’s Cathedral, Edinburgh, on September 11 last year, and attended her funeral at Westminster Abbey.

“When she died,” Dr. Greenshields recalled, “I thought of my mother and how she, too, had spoken about her faith just before she died, and how she would never normally do that.

‘So I wonder if people are, even subconsciously, getting ready for the end. It is also very common for people to like to think of their parents, as the Queen did.

Princess Elizabeth in July 1936 with her father, still the Duke of York, in the grounds of their home at 145 Piccadilly. Before she died, the Queen’s thoughts were with her parents and her father’s faith

Father and daughter: Princess Elizabeth in conversation with George VI in 1946

The young queen is crowned in 1952. Faith was more than a personal matter to Elizabeth, who was Supreme Governor of the Church of England

“She also mentioned an American religious leader who had a great impact on her, and while she didn’t mention his name — and I didn’t interrupt to ask — I wondered if it was Billy Graham she met.”

Queen Elizabeth and the moderator also spoke about the Church of Scotland.

“She was just a member, not in a high position like she was in the Church of England as Chief Governor, and in a way I think she liked that.”

Queen Elizabeth’s religious beliefs formed the basis of her seventy-year reign.

She had always viewed her life and duties as queen through the prism of her Christian faith and it seems that the faith remained undiminished to the end.

When the Dean of Westminster, David Hoyle, began Elizabeth II’s funeral eleven days after her death on Sept. 8, he told the congregation — and the millions of people watching around the world — that they were there to mourn her loss and reflect on her long life of selfless service. .

But, he added, they had “gathered in a certain confidence to commit her to the mercy of God our Redeemer.”

She had a strong, and in the best possible way, a simple faith, formed by going to church every Sunday, singing hymns, the Book of Common Prayer, and the Bible.

One of her most prized possessions was a prayer book specially compiled for her by Geoffrey Fisher, then Archbishop of Canterbury, to help her prepare for her coronation in 1953.

For Elizabeth II, being a Christian was more than a matter of personal spirituality.

As monarch, she was Supreme Governor of the Church of England at a time when Britain was becoming more secular and diverse in religious belief.

But she found a way to bridge the gap between the Church and the rest of society in a way that few bishops manage: she managed to communicate her beliefs both with conviction and without conversion, especially during her broadcasts on first christmas day.

Her funeral was unashamedly Anglican, but there was also room for leaders of other faiths to play a role.

At times Queen Elizabeth was reluctant to talk about her own funeral arrangements, but in the end she did and chose to include some of her favorite hymns.

Among them was The Lord’s My Shepherd, also sung at her wedding to Prince Philip in 1947. It is fitting, not least the verse expressing her strength of faith:

‘Yea, though I walk through the dark valley of death, yet I will fear evil from no one; for you are with me, and your rod and staff still comfort me.’

The late Queen and Queen Mother outside St Mary Magdalene Church, Sandringham, on Christmas Day

Chelsea pensioners join the crowd as they pay their respects to Her Majesty’s coffin in her adjournment at Westminster Hall

Princess Elizabeth stands over her father as he walks through the royal boxes at Windsor Castle. She felt his influence to the end

The monarch’s own staff, the sceptre, was placed on the altar of St. George’s Chapel, Windsor, along with the orb and the Imperial Crown of State, as if to signify the burden of office had been removed.

Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor was no longer a queen, but a Christian soul like any other believer—and one who had once written in a little-known book for the Bible Society that she was “deeply thankful to God for his steadfast love.” I have indeed seen his faithfulness.’

• Catherine Pepinster is the author of Defenders of the Faith – The British Monarchy, Religion and the Coronation