Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has declared Queen Elizabeth "never lost hope" even in the darkest moments of her life.
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has spoken candidly about Queen Elizabeth after her death.
The monarch passed away on Thursday (08.09.22) aged 96 at her Balmoral estate in Scotland sparking an outpouring of grief across the world, and now the Most Revd Justin Welby has opened up about his relationship with the queen and attempted to give some solace to all those mourning her loss.
Speaking on 'BBC Breakfast' on Friday (09.09.22), he said of the queen's death: "It feels as though, I think for so many people around world - especially in the UK - that a part of our lives that was taken for granted as being permanent is no longer there and in that sense there is an enormous shift in the world around us. In how we see it and how we understand ourselves and I think many people will be finding that sense of not just grief but also uncertainly and to some extent a wondering about what is permanent."
He went on to talk about the queen's Christian faith and how it helped her during her reign, adding: "I had this huge privilege of meeting the queen on numerous occasions ... I think in the queen we saw overflowing life that wasn't just because she was Queen.
"It was because her feet were on an even solider (sic) rock than being Queen and that was the rock of her faith ... The queen's sense of endurance and permanence did not depend on her and she knew that very well. It depended on God and she knew that very well."
Archbishop Welby also insisted the queen lived a "full" life and never "lost hope" even in the year of 1992 - which she described as her "annus horribilis" and involved several royal scandals, collapsed marriages and a fire at Windsor Castle.
He said: "The queen constantly showed us the meaning of life. She was joyful, she was humorous ... life was full. Even in the annus horribilis as she summed up possibly the most difficult year of her reign. Her life was full but she never - even in bad moments - lost hope."
He concluded by saying that even she never gave up even after the death of her husband Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh last year.
He added: "I obviously spoke to her after the death of the Duke of Edinburgh and spent some time with her and there was just a solidarity of hope in her life ... Abundance and hope they are still there."
Tagged in Queen Elizabeth Justin Welby