From the Dean of Westminster
Sir, - The Revd Dr Nicholas Cranfield's review (Arts,
6 February) of the "Cairo to Constantinople" exhibition
currently at The Queen's Gallery brought back memories of seeing
the exhibition at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in 2013.
Queen Victoria had paid closer attention to the
spiritual welfare of the Prince of Wales than the review grasps.
His chaplain on the journey was not Dr Edward Stanley, the
octogenarian Bishop of Norwich, but his son, Dr Arthur Penrhyn
Stanley, Regius Professor of Ecclesiastical History and Canon of
Christ Church, who would become Dean of Westminster from1864 until
his death in 1881. In 1862, he was 46.
Dr Cranfield perhaps missed in the exhibition the
volume of sermons that Stanley preached during the journey. On
Easter Day, Stanley conducted a service attended by the whole party
by the Sea of Galilee, beginning with the Easter Anthems and psalms
and including the Te Deum and Jubilate, followed by the entire
communion service. He preached on John 21, "taking the chapter
through piece by piece".
Incidentally, friendships developed on the journey:
later, Stanley would marry Lady Augusta, the sister of the Prince's
governor, General Bruce, a lady-in-waiting to the Queen.
JOHN HALL
The Deanery
Westminster SW1P 3PA