Statement from the Dean of Sydney on the Death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
The death of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth, causes us deep sorrow. Generations have delighted at her visits to Australia, and especially for us, here to us at St Andrew’s Cathedral, Sydney.
A condolence book is available inside the Cathedral, entered via the North Doors (Town Hall side).
Floral tributes should be taken the Government House (and those previously left at the Cathedral have been transported there.) The Royal Family has noted that instead of leaving floral tributes, Australians may wish to make a donation to a charity of their choice in Her Majesty’s honour.
Today, Friday 9th September
Prayers of Thanksgiving and Comfort at 11:50am;
From noon, bells to toll at ten second intervals, 96 times, one toll for each year of Her Majesty’s life;
A Special Service of Choral Evensong at 5:15pm.
Further details of services of commemoration will be made in accord with requests from Buckingham Palace in due course.
Today we give thanks for her faithful devotion to duty over great length of years: for her loving leadership, her gentle constancy, her royal dignity and her kindly humanity. We also pray for Charles, our new King, and all the Royal Family, in their grief.
However we do not grieve without hope. Indeed, the Queen herself prepared us for a time like this in her only Easter Message during the first wave of Coronvairus in 2020. Her Majesty said:
“The discovery of the risen Christ on the first Easter Day gave his followers new hope and fresh purpose, and we can all take heart from this… As dark as death can be – particularly for those suffering with grief – light and life are greater.”
The Very Rev. A.R. (Sandy) Grant
Dean of Sydney