Church organist recalls ‘wonderful, meant-to-be’ moment a 1952 George VI funeral leaflet fell out of a Bible at Evensong service marking Queen’s death
- Nick Danks was amazed when a leaflet for George VI’s funeral was discovered
- The historic item fell out of a rarely used King James Bible in Sunday’s Evensong
- It happened during a service for the Queen at St Genny’s Church in Cornwall
- The composer said the remarkable coincidence was like it was just ‘meant-to-be’
A church organist has recalled the ‘wonderful, meant-to-be’ moment a leaflet from the funeral of George VI fell out of a Bible at a service marking the Queen’s death.
Nick Danks was shocked when the historic item was discovered at St Genny’s Church, near Crackington Haven, in Cornwall, before Sunday’s Evensong.
The congregation at the church had decided to read from a rarely used King James Bible and were amazed to find the leaflet from the King’s funeral before a service marking the death of his daughter, Elizabeth.
It contains an order of service for the 1952 funeral, with a pattern of prayers and readings which are the same as those being put forward for services to mark the death of Her Majesty, who died last Thursday at the age of 96.
Mr Danks, who was leading the service, said it was an incredible find and a remarkable coincidence it was found on that day.
Nick Danks posted an image of the leaflet on Twitter. The item was from the funeral of George VI, the late Queen’s father who died in 1952
The discovery was made at St Gennys Church (pictured), near Crackington Haven in Cornwall on Sunday
‘No one could quite remember when the bible had last been used… but then the leaflet fell out the front,’ he said.
‘It was just one of those wonderful moments that was meant-to-be,’ he said.
The front of the leaflet said it was ‘to be used in all Churches in England on the Day of the Funeral’, which was on 15 February 1952.
No one from the church could remember when the bible was last used
Mr Danks, who is also a part-time organist, said: ‘It made everyone stop for a moment and go ‘wow’.’
St Genny’s, part of the Boscastle group of churches, held an Evensong service on Sunday to mark the death of the Queen.
Mr Danks said: ‘As we were setting up I decided this would be a nice moment to use the big old traditional King James Bible, the church’s copy of which usually sits in the corner unused, but looking very lovely.
‘It sits by the priest’s door and no one can remember when it was last used.
‘Even people with long connections with the church can’t remember when it was last used.
‘It was just one of those extraordinary little moments of coincidence and we then thought that using this particular bible was exactly the right thing to do.’
Mr Danks posted an image of the leaflet on Twitter, where he said it was ‘quite a moment’ and ‘a lovely thing to find’.
Mr Danks tweeted an image showing the first page of the leaflet, where versus from the Bible can be seen listed
Mr Danks (pictured) said the discovery was ‘meant-to-be’ and was made as members of the church opened a rarely-used King James Bible
He added the leaflet contained ‘a couple of different forms of liturgy, either to insert into a Eucharist or as stand-alone non-Eucharistic’ with the same readings as suggested for current times.
It comes ahead of the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, who was George VI’s eldest daughter, who passed away at Balmoral Castle in Scotland last Thursday.
At the time of her death the 96-year-old monarch was in the 70th-year of her reign, after being coronated following her father’s passing in 1952.
Today the Queen’s coffin was transported from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall where she will lie in state until a funeral service on Monday, September 19.
Over the next few days up to a million people are expected to queue to see Her Majesty, with the line set to stretch for miles along the River Thames.
Family members and heads of state from around the world are set to arrive for her funeral over the weekend, with the service itself to be shown on TV and in cinemas from 10am on Monday.
Afterwards her coffin will be transported to Windsor and there will be a committal service at St George’s Chapel, where she will be entombed with her late husband Prince Philip, who died in April 2021.
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