Taking advantage of the reading of Boris Johnson by the Philippians, the Archbishop of York said that Paul’s advice was worth accepting only because he followed Jesus, and Jesus should be subdued because “he shows us who God is.”
So “the best leaders are those who know how to be led,” which is, in short, a constitutional monarchy. The Queen rules not by divine law, but by divinely commanded duty, which may be difficult for the modern mind to comprehend. But she does believe that she has been physically transformed by her coronation into a servant of the people, who, like the kings of the Old Testament, are worth her salt only as long as she is loyal to the Lord.
The custom and the ritual are a manifestation of that magic, which is based on a practical and moral mission to help others.
The prayers that followed the sermon led by the Rev. Robert Cooland, a priest who appeared to be about 16 years old, were a mere attempt to link the event to the causes of the present. “Oh God,” people prayed, “encourage us to respect our diversity” and “protect the Earth.” But, with the exception of the strange fashion word of the 21st century, it felt like a favor from the fifties.
The music is by the giants of the English Renaissance: Sir Hubert, Ralph Von Williams, Gustav Holst and William Walton. The order was almost exclusively Anglican. There were many ecumenical guests, including imams, rabbis and, seen around the ship in a bright orange tunic, a Buddhist monk.
But the selection of prayer and music did not contain any hints of multiculturalism, which future anniversaries will almost certainly include, nor quotes from the Qur’an or the wisdom of the Tao. (In a century we will be singing John Lennon’s Imagine as if it were an anthem.)
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