THE Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, currently visiting several
states of Australia with their son Prince George, worshipped at St
Andrew's Cathedral, Sydney, on Easter Day. The young prince was
not, however, at the service.
The service - an informal service of morning prayer - was
conducted by the Dean, the Very Revd Phillip Jensen (right, in
photo); the preacher was the Archbishop of Sydney, Dr Glenn
Davies.
Apparently at the royal couple's request, the service was
attended by the usual Sunday-morning congregation, and no media
were allowed inside. The Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, a Roman
Catholic, and his wife, Margie, also attended the service.
Dr Davies spoke on the raising of Lazarus, and compared the
miracle with Jesus's own death and resurrection. He said that he
had often wondered what it would have been like to have gone to the
second funeral of Lazarus. "Imagine what kind of joy there would
have beenat that funeral . . . knowing that he would rise again,"
he said.
The Duke and Duchess signed the historic First Fleet Bible and
Prayer Book, believed to have been used by a chaplain, Richard
Johnson, when he conducted the first Anglican service in the
fledgling colony of Sydney on 3 February 1788.
Kept in a museum in St Philip's, York Street, Sydney, the
historic books have also been signed by other royal visitors,
including the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, and the then Prince
and Princess of Wales, on visits to the cathedral in the past.
In the afternoon, the Duke and Duchess, with Prince George,
visited Taronga Park Zoo on the foreshores of Sydney Harbour. The
enclosure housing bilbies, a small Australian marsupial mammal the
size of a rabbit, was renamed the Prince George Bilby Exhibit in
the Prince's honour.
On Good Friday, the Duke and Duchess visited the Royal Easter
Show, in Sydney; Bear Cottage children's hospice, in Manly, a
suburb of Sydney; and Manly Beach.