Queen: None of us can slow passage of time

The Queen delivered a poignant message to church leaders yesterday, warning that ‘none of us can slow the passage of time’.

The 95-year-old monarch had been due to appear in person at the General Synod, the Church of england’s national assembly. But her appearance was cancelled last Thursday over health concerns – the first time she has missed it during her reign.

Instead she was reluctantly forced to allow her address to be read out by her son, the earl of Wessex.

The address said: ‘It is hard to believe that it is over 50 years since Prince Philip and I attended the very first meeting of the General Synod.

‘None of us can slow the passage of time and while we often focus on all that has changed in the intervening years, much remains unchanged, including the Gospel of Christ and his teachings.’

The Queen’s absence comes weeks after she was hospitalised overnight for what Buckingham Palace has only described as ‘preliminary tests’.

She has since been forced to cancel all public engagements in favour of ‘light, desk-based’ duties on the advice of her doctors. She was also forced to miss the Remem brance Sunday service at the weekend after spraining her back.

her address also praised the UK’s ‘rich and diverse’ society, adding: ‘The wellbeing of the nation depends on the contribution of

people of all faiths, and of none. But, for people of faith, the last few years have been particularly hard... It has been a time of anxiety, of grief and of weariness.

‘Yet the Gospel has brought hope, as it has done throughout the ages, and the Church has adapted and continued its ministry.’

Directly calling on members of the Synod, her address continued: ‘The next five years will not always be straightforward...

‘My hope is that you will be strengthened with the certainty of the love of God as you work together and draw on the Church’s tradition of unity in fellowship for the tasks ahead.’

‘The Gospel has brought hope’