Her Majesty The Queen will be sending a private message of condolence to the family of American Reverend Billy Graham who died at the age of 99 yesterday at his home in North Carolina from natural causes.
Buckingham Palace confirmed that Her Majesty would be sending along her sympathies to the Graham family. A spokesperson told Fox News, “The Queen will be sending a private message of condolence to the family of Billy Graham.”
The Queen, a profoundly religious woman, had met Reverend Graham many times over the years with her first meeting with the preacher taking a central plot point in one episode of Netflix’s The Crown season two. Reverend Graham even delivered the Easter Sunday service in 1995 at the Royal Family’s private chapel.
The Crown’s historical consultant, Robert Lacey, told People Magazine, “[The Queen] has always been deeply religious. She was close to the Rev. Billy Graham in his prime, inviting him to preach at Windsor whenever he was in Britain, and meeting up with him when she visited the States. He helped her with a Christmas broadcast in the ‘90s.”
In his 1997 autobiography, the Reverend remarked about The Queen, “No one in Britain has been more cordial toward us than Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. I have always found her highly intelligent and knowledgeable about a wide variety of issues.”
Back in 2016, Billy Graham’s son, Franklin tweeted out a photo of his father with Queen Elizabeth, Prince Philip and the Queen Mother.
Just a few days ago, the late pastor’s granddaughter said that Graham was bowled over by Her Majesty’s “class and dignity.”
The man dubbed “America’s pastor” served as a spiritual advisor to many United States presidents including John F. Kennedy, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton. He filled stadiums all across the United States and the world spreading Christianity in what was called the Crusades.
Graham had dealt with ill health for a number of years including a bought with prostate cancer and symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.
