‘Her Majesty The Queen’. With two male monarchs lined up to follow King Charles III, these four words are unlikely to be used with reference to a reigning monarch for decades to come. Truly, it is the end of an era.

Like many others, I had the opportunity to meet with Her Majesty on several occasions, each time in a different role.

I first entered her presence whilst still a student in the 1980s. I had mastered the art of silver service, serving any and every item of food merely with a spoon and fork. I soon found myself regularly serving Her Majesty at different functions. My role was always to be unseen. Her role was to see everything. This included me, her literal humble and obedient servant.

Although engaged constantly in conversation with her neighbouring dignitaries (to do otherwise would have been rude), she had mastered the art of acquiescence such that she could smile and acknowledge the service given to her with a twinkling of deep gratitude in her eye whilst continuing to be wholly attentive to another person.

Often, the primary focus of the noble and proud attending London banquets was on those who ranked above them socially. Her Majesty had no one to impress. She saw everyone and appreciated everything, all of the time.

The second occasion our paths crossed was in the library at Windsor Castle during her Golden Jubilee celebrations in June 2002. I was directing Public Affairs for the Catholic Archbishop of Westminster. Along with my Anglican counterpart from Lambeth Palace, we had been appointed to oversee media aspects of a unique ecumenical declaration which Her Majesty had desired to sign along with Christian leaders from across the United Kingdom to commemorate her fifty years on the throne. Amidst global pageantry and celebration, this quiet gesture, removed from the glare of television cameras, seemed paramount in Her Majesty’s heart.

Her Christian faith remained constant. Although eyes were always on her as Queen, her eyes were on Christ as King. She went about playing her part in uniting Christian leaders within the temporal kingdom assigned to her, in the hope that God’s united kingdom would come upon the earth. The Servant Queen – sometimes attending up to 400 official engagements a year, and being patron of over 600 charities – sought actively to see fulfilled Christ’s words in Scripture, ‘I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one.’ (Gospel of John 17:21).

To some, the signing of an ecumenical declaration may have seemed insignificant. However, Her Majesty The Queen was the first monarch in 500 years to attempt to unite Christian factions since the bloodied, pain-filled Reformation that still ripples today in pockets of British society and across the Commonwealth. Whatever a person’s religious or non-religious belief, or Christian affiliation, she took seriously the goal of uniting the lives of those around her.

She was the first British monarch since that great divide to offer to a Catholic bishop the Order of Merit, the personal gift of the Sovereign. This honour was the Queen’s own choice, awarded without ministerial advice to individuals of exceptional distinction and restricted to a maximum of 24 living recipients from the Commonwealth realms. In this case, its recipient was Cardinal George Basil Hume, Archbishop of Westminster, about whom she spoke affectionately as ‘my Cardinal’ in June 1999. Never before had such intimate words been heard publicly from the mouth of the Head of the Church of England in reference to a leading Catholic prelate.

Soon after Hume’s death, Her Majesty swiftly extended an invitation to his successor, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, not only to be a guest at her Sandringham estate but to also preach at Matins. This was building spiritual bridges unlike anything previously achieved by a monarch in the previous five centuries.

The third occasion we met was in the grounds of Buckingham Palace at one of her infamous Royal Garden Parties. As a long-serving trustee of the British and Foreign Bible Society, I was honoured to represent this centuries old organisation surrounded by a throng of charities and their leaders.

At the brief mention of the word ‘Bible’, her face became radiant. In the midst of her duties, she appeared to be drawn back again to the source of her purpose and values, and reminded of the source of, and the reason behind, her very existence: God Himself.

Her Majesty’s weekly church visits and her faith in Christ was never more evident than in her Christmas addresses. In the Queen’s Christmas Message of 2014, she said:

‘For me, the life of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, whose birth we celebrate today, is an inspiration and an anchor in my life. A role model of reconciliation and forgiveness, he stretched out his hands in love, acceptance and healing. Christ’s example has taught me to seek to respect and value all people of whatever faith or none.’

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II was a stalwart of service the likes of which our world might never see again. With that ever-present glint of gratitude in her eye, with a sense of humour that engaged James Bond and Paddington Bear, with a confidence to proclaim publicly her trust in a merciful, forgiving, and ever-loving God, she deserves like few others to hear the words spoken over her as she enters God’s united kingdom, ‘well done, good and faithful servant’.

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