Her Majesty, The Queen
Royal support for the UK's church buildings
Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, has been Patron of the National Churches Trust since 1953 when the Historic Churches Preservation Trust, its predecessor charity, was founded. In that time it has supported over 12,000 churches with grants and loans in excess of £100 million.
To mark Queen Elizabeth's support for our work, we have produced a special Jubilee Proclamation which thanks her for her patronage of church buildings and heritage. We will be publishing the proclamation in some national and specialist newspapers and magazines and are calling on churches, chapels and meeting houses to join us in publishing this special proclamation in parish magazines, newsletters, on church websites and as posters on church noticeboards. The ready-to-use artwork is available in several different formats and can be downloaded from the links below. Please join us in publishing this Jubilee Proclamation ideally at the end of May or start of June.
Jubilee Proclamation resources
We are issuing a special Jubilee Proclamation to thank HM The Queen for her continued and unstinting support of churches, chapels and meeting houses through her patronage of the National Churches Trust. We will be placing this proclamation in a number of national and specialist publications, and hope that churches across all four nations will feel able to join us in celebrating.
Please consider printing our proclamation in your parish magazine or weekly newsletter, placing it on your website or printing it off in a large format to be used as a poster on your church or porch noticeboard.
Our aim is to have as many churches as possible across the UK, proclaim the importance of HM The Queen and thank her for her support over the last 70 years.
What size and formats are available?
The artwork is available in a range of sizes; A4 and A5; and in colour or black and white. We hope this will be suitable in most cases, but please feel free to contact us if you require something different.
When should we print it?
Please try and publish your proclamation around the end of May or beginning of June. If you produce a monthly magazine please feel free to use it in May or June, or both!
Do we have to get your permission?
There is no need to ask our permission to print the proclamation. We are hugely grateful to photographer Mike Swift for donating his image of HM The Queen for use in this way. If you do decide to print the proclamation, we'd love to receive a copy of your magazine or newsletter if at all possible, so we can see how far the proclamation has reached and provide feedback to The Palace. You can send it to our London office at: National Churches Trust, 7 Tufton Street, London SW1P 3QB.
Can we read the proclamation at one of our church services?
That sounds like a great idea. Please feel free to promote the special Jubilee Proclamation in whichever way you feel is most effective for you.
Can we share the proclamation with our local council, schools, newspaper, social media etc?
Yes please. We'd love to see the proclamation promoted across the whole UK to show the importance of churches, chapels and meeting houses to their local communities.
Royal support for the UK's church buildings
Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, has been Patron of the National Churches Trust since 1953 when the Historic Churches Preservation Trust, its predecessor charity, was founded. In that time it has supported over 12,000 churches with grants and loans in excess of £100 million.
To mark Queen Elizabeth's support for our work, we have produced a special Royal Proclamation which thanks The Queen for her patronage.
Luke March, Chairman of the National Churches Trust said:
"As one of the first charities to be honoured with the Patronage of Queen Elizabeth, we are very grateful to have had her support continuously throughout her reign."
"Our origins date back to the early 1950s when the condition of parish churches was in a perilous state, following the Second World War."
"After almost 70 years of our work, challenges still remain, but we are determined to ensure that churches continue to be at the heart of communities throughout the UK and that their magnificent heritage is safeguarded for future generations. Since 1953 we have helped keep many thousands of churches open, being used and in good repair, confident in the steadfast support of Queen Elizabeth.”
Royal message
In a message to mark the Trust's 60th anniversary in 2013, Her Majesty wrote: “Since the foundation of the Historic Churches Preservation Trust in 1953, I have seen the excellent work you have undertaken to support historic church buildings in this country.”
Ten years earlier, Her Majesty The Queen, accompanied by HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, attended a service of thanksgiving at St Bartholomew the Great in Smithfield, to celebrate the Trust's 50th anniversary.
The proclamation is available in A4 or A5 in full colour as a pdf:
The proclamation is available in A4 or A5 in black & white as a pdf:
The proclamation is available in different sizes to use on various social media channels. Open each image and then right click to save:
Our Jubilee Proclamation
We are issuing a special Jubilee Proclamation to thank HM The Queen for her continued and unstinting support of churches, chapels and meeting houses by her patronage of the National Churches Trust. We will be placing this proclamation in a number of national and specialist publications, and hope that churches across all four nations will feel able to join us in celebrating.