Fourteen Church leaders who make up the Scottish Church Leaders’ Forum have issued a statement on the death of Her Majesty the Queen.

The signatories, who include Bishop Mark Strange, Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church, said:

“We join with the Nation in offering our thanks to God for the life of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth and for her faithful service as Sovereign throughout these last 70 years.

“We give thanks for her evident Christian faith and recall that in her first Christmas broadcast as Queen in 1952 she asked us to pray for her ‘that God may give me wisdom and strength to carry out the solemn promises that I shall be making, and that I may faithfully serve Him and you, all the days of my life.’

“In her faithful service of God and of the Nation she has surely fulfilled the promises that she made.

“We join with people of good faith everywhere in offering our prayers for His Majesty King Charles III and the Royal Family at this time.”

Signed by:

Most Rev. Mark Strange, Primus, on behalf of the College of Bishops, Scottish Episcopal Church
Rt. Rev. Dr Iain Greenshields, Moderator of the General Assembly, Church of Scotland
Most Rev. Leo Cushley, Archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh, Roman Catholic Church
Rev. Archie Ford, Moderator, United Free Church of Scotland
Rev. Iver Martin, Moderator, Free Church of Scotland
Rev. Paul Whittle, Moderator, United Reformed Church (Scotland)
Rev. Martin Hodson, General Director, Baptist Union of Scotland
Rev. Mark Slaney, District Chair, Methodist Church (Scotland)
Rev. Thomas R. Wilson, Chair, Congregational Federation in Scotland
Lt. Col. Carol Bailey, Secretary for Scotland, Salvation Army
Adwoa Bittle, Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)
Bishop Raphael of Ilion, Ecumenical Patriarchate, Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain
Pastor Chris Gbenle, Redeemed Christian Church of God (Scotland Province)
Bishop Kenneth Nowakowski, Ukrainian Catholic Church