For the Queen: A Little Book of Private Devotions in Preparation for Her Majesty's Coronation
A verified public-domain excerpt for this text is still being set. The folio is catalogued and linked below; an original Sub Rosa rendering will follow.
What it is
Archbishop Geoffrey Fisher presented this personally inscribed prayerbook to Queen Elizabeth II on 30 April 1953, writing on the flyleaf 'Presented to Her Majesty The Queen, with my humble duty. Geoffrey Cantuar: April 30, 1953. The first copy.' Nineteen copies were printed in total, intended for the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, the Queen Mother, Princess Margaret, and close associates. The booklet contained daily private devotions from 1 May to the Coronation on 2 June 1953, designed to help the twenty-seven-year-old Queen prepare spiritually for her anointing and investiture. The original copy is in the Royal Collection (RCIN 1006833); Lambeth Palace Library holds copies 6 and 7.
Why it still matters
Though the text itself remains unavailable to the public, it witnesses to the practice of intentional devotional preparation before major transitions; any Christian can adopt this model by using BCP collects or structured Ignatian prayer in the weeks before baptism, confirmation, ordination, or marriage.
Kept alongside
Book of Common Prayer — Queen Victoria's Wedding and Windsor Chapel Copies
The Royal Collection Trust holds two documented personal copies of the Book of Common Prayer belonging to Queen Victoria. The first was given by her mother, the Duchess of Kent, on her wedding day (10 February 1840), inscribed 'Given To my beloved Victoria on her Wedding Day by Her most affectionate Mother,' with Victoria's monogram on the binding and a gold VICTORIA bookmark set with gemstones. The second was used in the private chapel at Windsor Castle, stamped with the cipher VR (Victoria Regina). Victoria attended chapel regularly throughout her life, and the BCP ordered her family's Sunday worship — a practice continued without interruption under every subsequent Windsor monarch.
The Gate of the Year (originally titled 'God Knows')
King George VI quoted this poem in his Christmas Day radio broadcast of 1939, the first wartime Christmas of the Second World War, having received it from Princess Elizabeth, then aged thirteen. The words are inscribed on a plaque at the entrance to the George VI Memorial Chapel in St George's Chapel, Windsor, where the King is interred, placed there by Queen Elizabeth II as a personal memorial tribute. The poem was read again at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother in 2002, cementing its place as a distinctive expression of Windsor devotional sensibility across three generations.
Common Worship: Services and Prayers for the Church of England
Common Worship
The Church of England's modern liturgical book series, authorized from 2000 as an alternative to the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, encompassing Morning and Evening Prayer, Holy Communion, and occasional offices. It contains prayers for the sovereign and royal family that were updated by Royal Warrant following the accession of King Charles III, and its 2024 edition specifically incorporated updated royal prayers throughout. As the standard service book at St George's Chapel Windsor and all Church of England churches, it governs the worship life of the Windsor family and is used at coronations, royal weddings, and funerals.