LETTERS
Assembly Ceremony
I refer to Margaret King’s letter (Life and Work, July) regarding ceremonial elements at the General Assembly.
It was on February 8 1952, two days after the death of King George VI, that the Queen at her Accession Council took the oath to maintain Presbyterian Church Government in Scotland.
The taking of this oath was the Queen’s second official action as a new monarch.
The presence of the Lord High Commissioner at each General Assembly highlights the continuing relationship between the Church of Scotland and the Crown.
The Rev James Pitt-Watson who was Moderator at the time of the Queen’s coronation addressed the then Lord High Commissioner, the Duke of Hamilton at the closing of the General Assembly in 1953 as follows: “This is the Supreme Court of a Church which is national and free and your Grace’s presence amongst us as Her Majesty’s Representative is the expression and declaration of a unique and historic achievement in the relationship of Church and State.”