The Queen and I: Billy Graham touted 'warm' relationship with Queen Elizabeth II
LONDON — The Rev. Billy Graham, who died Wednesday at age 99, was friend to a number of world leaders — and counted Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II among them.
“No one in Britain has been more cordial toward us than Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II,” Graham, the world's best-known evangelist, wrote in Just As I Am, his 1997 autobiography.
“Almost every occasion I have been with her has been in a warm, informal setting, such as a luncheon or dinner, either alone or with a few family members or other close friends.”
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The Grahams visited Britain’s royal family at locations including two of the queen’s homes — Windsor Castle, near London, and the Sandringham estate, in eastern England, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association said in an article to mark the monarch’s 90th birthday in 2016.
“Her official position has prevented her from openly endorsing our crusade meetings. But by welcoming us and having me preach on several occasions to the royal family at Windsor and Sandringham, she has gone out of her way to be quietly supportive of our mission,” Graham wrote in his autobiography.
The queen, 91, is the Supreme Governor of the Church of England and is often spotted visiting church. The annual Christmas service at Sandringham has seen her accompanied by relatives including her grandsons, Princes William and Harry, Duchess Kate and last year, Prince Harry’s fiancée, U.S. actress Meghan Markle. The queen's annual Christmas message is broadcast to tens of thousands of homes across the United Kingdom.
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The relationship between Graham and the British monarch was depicted in the Netflix series The Crown — although some historians say a few creative liberties were taken.
“I think he’s rather handsome,” Claire Foy, who plays the queen on the show, tells her husband, Prince Philip, after seeing Graham preach.
“You do speak with such wonderful clarity and certainty,” she later tells Graham, played by Paul Sparks.
Graham, who suffered from ailments including cancer and pneumonia, died Wednesday at his home in North Carolina, where he retired in 2005.
Justin Welby, the leader of the Church of England and head of the worldwide Anglican Church, said in a statement that Graham has "few equals."
"He was one who met presidents and preachers, monarchs and musicians, the poor and the rich, the young and the old, face to face," Welby said.
"Yet now he is face to face with Jesus Christ, his savior and ours. It is the meeting he has been looking forward to for the whole of his life."