Prime Minister Liz Truss gives reading at Queen Elizabeth's funeral
UK Prime Minister Liz Truss read the Second Lesson at Queen Elizabeth's funeral at Westminster Abbey on Monday (19.09.22).
The newly-appointed Conservative leader was given the honour of speaking at the state funeral of the late monarch - who died aged 96 on September 8 - and she read from John 14:1-9a, telling the congregation of 2000: "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God."
She went on: "In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.
"Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father."
The service started at 11am as the congregation stood and the choir sang while Queen Elizabeth's coffin was brought into the abbey and the service started with the bidding given by Dr David Hoyle MBE, Dean of Westminster.
He told the congregation: "In grief and also in profound thanksgiving we come to this House of God, to a place of prayer, to a church where remembrance and hope are sacred duties. Here, where Queen Elizabeth was married and crowned, we gather from across the nation, from the Commonwealth, and from the nations of the world, to mourn our loss, to remember her long life of selfless service, and in sure confidence to commit her to the mercy of God our maker and redeemer."
The service continued with the hymn 'The Day Thou Gavest' and a reading by Baroness Scotland, Secretary-General of the Commonwealth and the choir singing The Psalm before Liz Truss gave the second lesson.
