The Royal Visit – as it happened – part two

The Order of Service for Passion Sunday

When the ‘Official group from the UK’ visited St. Clement’s Church on Saturday 16th January 2010 in order to begin planning the details of this Royal Visit, I was asked what form our normal 11am Sunday service took. I replied that, as it was the only service we had on a Sunday, it was a service of Holy Communion or ‘Sung Eucharist’ as we normally call it. I was then asked how long the service lasted and I replied that it was normally around an hour and a quarter.

The emphasis of all our discussions was the desire that the Royal Couple should be able to join with the regular congregation for their normal Sunday service. However, I was asked whether, because of certain timetabling constraints, I could keep the service to about an hour and I gave the assurance . . . → Read More: The Royal Visit – as it happened – part two

The Royal Visit – as it happened – part one

The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall arrive at St. Clement's Church accompanied by the British Ambassador Sian MacLeod (far left) © Sybille Yates

Further to my previous posts entitled ‘A forthcoming Royal visit’, ‘Three days to go…….’ and ‘Only 12 hours to go…..’, today was the big day when, as part of their official visit to the Czech Republic, Their Royal Highnesses the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall, joined the regular St. Clement’s Church congregation for our Sunday morning worship.

I set the alarm for 6am, just to be sure I had plenty of time to have a shower, eat breakfast and collect everything together, ready to travel into the city centre. In fact, the four-legged alarm clock called Oscar, landed on my bed before 6 am. I think he knew I had to get . . . → Read More: The Royal Visit – as it happened – part one

Only 12 hours to go…..

Brass Plaque on Church Door © Ricky Yates

By the time I publish this blog post, there will be little more than 12 hours to go before their Royal Highnesses, the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall, arrive outside St. Clement’s Anglican Episcopal Church, to be greeted by me and the Churchwardens and then join us for worship. Judging by the comments I’ve received on my previous posts, there seems to be many readers enjoying my regular updates. So here is one final update in advance of the big day.

As I mentioned previously, I had yet another meeting in the late afternoon of Thursday 18th March with various security personnel, both British and Czech, seeking to ascertain what would happen when the official party arrives, who would sit where and how the service would proceed. Hopefully, we’ve now got everything sorted.

. . . → Read More: Only 12 hours to go…..

Three days to go……..

St. Vitus Cathedral & Prague Castle © Ricky Yates

Yes – it is only three days to go before Their Royal Highnesses, The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall, arrive outside St. Clement’s Anglican Episcopal Church, ready to join the regular congregation for Sunday Morning worship. So I thought my blog readers might appreciate an update as to how preparations for the big day are going.

Liturgy – Earlier yesterday, I finally finished drafting and typing the Order of Service that we will use on Sunday. Normally at St. Clements, everybody gets an Order of Service containing the liturgy, a hymn book, together with a copy of our Weekly Bulletin which contains the text of the Collect and Bible Readings, the notices for the coming week and contact details for me and members of the Church Council.

For this special service, I always . . . → Read More: Three days to go……..

A forthcoming Royal Visit

St. Clement's Anglican Episcopal Church, Prague © Ricky Yates

This is a blog post that I started formulating almost two months ago. But for reasons that will be obvious as you read on further, it was only 48 hours ago that I was allowed to speak or write publicly about most of what follows.

The story starts on the morning of Monday 11th January 2010 when I received an email from the British Ambassador to the Czech Republic, Sian MacLeod, alerting me to ‘a visit next weekend by an official group from the UK who would very much like to visit your church’. Her colleague, the Second Secretary Alex Pykett would be in touch with me shortly to make arrangements and she expressed the hope that I would be able to help. I duly replied that I would help in whatever way I could.

A couple of . . . → Read More: A forthcoming Royal Visit