(NewsNation) — During her 1953 coronation, Queen Elizabeth II was anointed by the archbishop of Canterbury and pledged to rule not just according to British Law, but “the laws of God,” in her title, among many, as “Defender of the Faith.”
“Her faith was everything, and the fact that she was head of the Church of England, and she was very high on with the Church of Scotland was everything to her,” said Barrie Livingstone, a royals commentator and author.
“She really felt the weight of what that meant because you think of millions and millions of people who have the same beliefs. So it’s actually very powerful, and she felt that and she carried it so majestically through to the end,” he continued.
In 2016, the queen wrote “The Faith of Queen Elizabeth: The Poise, Grace, and Quiet Strength Behind the Crown,” in which she shares her faith in her own words and details her personal devotion and public service.
Livingstone said the greatest part of the queen’s legacy went far beyond her faith, and her protocol and duty were just as important.
“To those who said she didn’t do anything, she kept a tight schedule, every 20 minutes during the day someone came through that door, there was a phone call, there was things to sign, there was people to meet with,” he said. “It’s that sense of duty and that strong sense that she was. She was the monarch, and that had to prevail over everything, which is why the sense of duty was so extremely strong,”
