A Royal Appointment

Our Benefice Vicar, Reverend Kalantha Brewis, has recently received a letter from the Lord Chamberlain’s Office, Buckingham Palace under the direction of the King, to offer her the honorary role of Chaplain to His Majesty King Charles III. The position is known as Honorary Chaplain to the Sovereign.

To understand a little more about this honour I did consult Wikipedia and I have abstracted the following.

‘An Honorary Chaplain to the King is a member of the clergy within the United Kingdom, through long and distinguished service, is appointed to minister to the monarch of the United Kingdom.'

Historically, they were appointed to guard the sacred relics, say mass on special feast days and write any documents the king required. The role then developed as advisors to the Monarch in both ecclesiastical and secular matters.

Today, the appointment requires Kalantha to preach in the Chapel Royal, St James’s Palace once a year. Maybe we can have a Church outing to hear and support her. It is a great honour as currently there are only 24 Honorary Chaplains.

Why St James’s Palace? Probably because it is described as the most senior royal palace in London, founded by Henry VIII in the 1530’s.

How do you recognise an Honorary Chaplain you may ask? Honorary Chaplains wear a scarlet cassock and a special bronze badge consisting of the royal cypher and crown within an oval wreath. A cypher is a badge bearing the monarchs crown and initials CR III (Charles Rex the Third) and is the personal property of the King.

Kalantha is encouraged to wear her new garments ‘as she goes about her duties in the Parish’. I doubt she will be wearing them while dog walking in the villages, but hopefully we will see her in her finery during Church services.

Kalantha qualified and practiced as a lawyer prior to starting a family. Later, with three young daughters she was prompted to run child minding business from home. Kalantha first received her church calling as a lay reader at Holy Trinity Church, Eckington and then moved as curate and ordinand to St Barnabas Church with Christ Church in Worcester. Kalantha joined our Benefice in January 2020 just intime for the COVID pandemic, a very big job, especially as previously the four churches had not been run as a team.

This is a huge honour and on behalf of all residents and parishioners across the Benefice, we offer sincere Congratulations!

David Thorpe