Opinion column

God save the Queen and our planet

Philip Young is thankful for our Queen’s long reign, and is encouraging us to participate in the celebrations and to support the Green Canopy campaign.

The first Elizabethan era in England lasted 44 years. The Victorian era in the United Kingdom lasted nearly 64 years. We are now living in the second Elizabethan age and celebrating Her Majesty's Platinum jubilee.
 
This means for me, and anyone else under 70, living in the UK, the Queen has been our only monarch. Being born in her coronation year, I am one of many who were named ‘Philip’ after her faithful husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, and because my mother and father liked the name. My mother was six years old when Elizabeth was born, and lived until she was 100 years old, dying just a few months after joyfully receiving a birthday card from the Queen.
 
‘Long to reign over us: God save the Queen’
 
The prayer of our national anthem has certainly been answered and I am very thankful for her long reign. We are all probably familiar with the first two verses of the national anthem, but here is the third verse, which is must much less known.
 
“Not in this land alone,
but be God's mercies known on ev’ry shore
Lord, make the nations see that all humanity
should form one family the wide world o’er.”
 
Let us be thankful that the Queen has nurtured the Commonwealth of, now, 54 independent countries. In our world 2.5 billion people are Commonwealth citizens. The Commonwealth, which the Queen so loves, is a powerful symbol of countries working together for the common good. God bless our Queen Elizabeth and the friendship and community that she inspires.
 
Let us be thankful too for the way the Queen has shown the world what servant leadership looks like. I am quite sure that she takes her model of leadership from the example of Jesus and his servant leadership.
 
Let's joyfully celebrate her Platinum Jubilee. Perhaps one way to do this is to increase and protect our native tree cover, by planting a tree, as part of the Queens Green Canopy campaign. I recently went up to St Mark’s Oulton Broad to support their Church Green Team with their Rector Reverend Helen Jary when they planted trees in the Vicarage Garden for the above project last December, pictured right.
 
The Queen’s beloved husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, her son, the Prince of Wales, and her grandson, the Duke of Cambridge, have also all been great advocates for protecting the environment.
 
Let's hope the second Elizabethan era can be remembered as the time when we woke up to the need to protect our beautiful world and when we stepped up and did something about it. I am sure that would please Her Majesty beyond words.
 
God save the Queen and God save our beautiful world.
 
 
The image of Queen Elizabeth II above is courtesy of royal.uk