Dear sisters and brothers in Christ,
Now that the funeral arrangements have been published for HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, parish churches are encouraged to have a service of commemoration for his life, with prayers for Her Majesty The Queen and members of the Royal Family, at 6pm on Friday 16 April (or at another time or day, but avoiding the day of the funeral). These services obviously need to be Covid secure. Resources for the service, including the form for a commemoration service, are available on the Church of England website https://www.churchofengland.org/remembering-his-royal-highness-prince-philip#prayer
Norwich Cathedral will be holding a full choral service at the same time for invited guests representing different organisations from across the Diocese. This will be live-streamed and the link is https://youtu.be/GlXAjo8ZF1I . The Cathedral will be open after the service, with the last entrance at 9:30pm, if people want space to pray and light candles.
Given the pandemic, and knowing that some of you remain shielding, your local arrangements may, in consultation with churchwardens, be to signpost people to the Cathedral service via the Cathedral’s website.
The Lord Lieutenant would like to deploy her fifty Deputy Lieutenants to as many local services as possible. Please could you let Canon Sally Theakston, my Chaplain, know by 12 noon on Monday 11 April if you are planning a physical service, together with the date and time, so that a full list can be provided to the Lieutenancy Office. Sally will then let you know if a Deputy Lieutenant will be attending. Sally’s email address is bishops.chaplain@dioceseofnorwich.org.
With all good wishes and every blessing.
+Graham Norvic:
