March 2002

Later this year the nation will be celebrating the Queen’s Golden Jubilee and we hope to feature an article on this in the June issue. But in the meantime it is worth reflecting on the death of the Queen’s younger sister, Princess Margaret. There is a certain sadness about her life and her death. Many have paid tribute to her charm, beauty, vivacity, intelligence and devotion to charitable work, but the span of 71 years between Glamis Castle and  Slough crematorium is, in the judgement of many, the story of a search for fulfilment which she never attained. Like the woman at the well in John chapter 4, she had a series of men in her life – Group Captain Peter Townsend, Robin Douglas-Home, her husband Anthony Armstrong-Jones, Roddy Llewellyn – but no real happiness.  

Her death has not stirred the same widespread sense of loss that was caused by the untimely death of Diana Princess of Wales in 1997. The reaction has all been rather muted and low-key. One instinctively feels sympathy for one who lived in the public eye and whose faults were exposed in the media. Princess Margaret seemed almost destined to fulfil the role of the potentially troublesome younger sibling which some prominent and dedicated people have on the sidelines. Think of Terry Major-Ball, the gnome-manufacturing brother of former Prime Minister John Major, or Billy Carter, who severely embarrassed his brother Jimmy Carter, the US President, in 1980, when it was revealed that he had acted for the Libyan government. (In the case of the present Queen’s father, King George VI, it was his older brother, Edward VIII, whose character was called into question.)      

But the sadness we feel at Princess Margaret’s death, as of one who lived and died without Christ, has been compounded by reactions and public statements, especially those from religious leaders. If we are concerned for the cause of the gospel in Britain, there are several things which ought to alarm us:

1. The fact of an established Church

The constitutional absurdity of the Queen being Supreme Governor of the Church of England, ‘Defender of the Faith’, encourages totally unrealistic expectations of the monarchy and the royal family. Lord St. John of Fawsley said of Princess Margaret, ‘She was always tremendously supportive of the Queen and the institution of the monarchy and, of course [my emphasis], the Church of England, of which she was a devout member.’ Devotion to the established Church is emphatically not the same as devotion to the Lord!

It isn’t fashionable any more for Baptists to call for the disestablishment of the Church of England. The Nonconformists’ battles of the 19^th century to overturn Anglican privileges don’t need to be fought again. But if the presence of an established Church encourages people to think they are Christians when Biblically they are not, thereby hindering the gospel, shouldn’t we be saying something?

2. The failure of national religious leaders

Given the intertwining of State and Church some compromise is inevitable. Though we allow for the rule ‘De mortuis nihil nisi bonum’ (say nothing bad about the dead), it still distasteful when bishops dutifully make pronouncements about their royal ‘flock’ which are Biblically unwarranted. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr George Carey, has said of Princess Margaret:

‘She was a person of faith and loved the prayer book. It was a simple but very direct faith and a faith that was interested in the lives of people.’ Dr Carey then paid tribute to the princess's charitable work with more than 80 organisations, particularly with young people's groups.

He continued, ‘As with most of us who are believers, her faith was very deep and real. It made a real difference to her attitude to life and her friendships. There was a loneliness about her in her latter years. But she did have the support of the Royal Family, who cared for her at all times. She never wavered in her loyalty to her Church. And in the very deep conversations I had with her, she never complained. We thank God for her commitment and we commend her to her Heavenly Father.’ 

This may well prompt us to ask, ‘Am I then a fellow-believer with Princess Margaret, one in Christ with her? Did she deny herself, take up her cross and follow Christ daily as I seek to do?’ The answer is clear. All this highlights the need for us to pray that God will raise up a church leader who will speak from the Word of God (and be listened to).

3. A deadly confusion about what a Christian is

Other church leaders who have paid tribute to Princess Margaret include the Archbishop of Wales, Dr. Rowan Williams, who said she was an ‘informed Christian’. The world is more accurate in its appraisal. It was one of Princess Margaret’s friends who described her as ‘a hedonist’. She lived for pleasure. Scripture makes the distinction, Lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God (2 Timothy 3:4). 

Even in evangelical circles the death of someone famous or glamorous can produce a sentimental reaction which clouds sound judgement. In 1997 I knew of otherwise sound Christians who were offended by statements implying that Diana Princess of Wales was not in heaven.

Pity the nation in which you can live for pleasure and still be counted a ‘Christian’. If Princess Margaret was a Christian, we must re-write the Bible. Do we not long for the day when you shall again discern between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him (Malachi 3:18)?

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