The Prince of Wales has shown his support for Catholicism by marking Easter with the recording of a poem by a Jesuit priest widely regarded as the finest Catholic poet in the English language.
Prince Charles, who has long demonstrated a passionate interest in and commitment to all faiths, recited God's Grandeur, by Gerard Manley Hopkins, which he chose for both its Easter and environmental messages.
The recording will be played during the Easter Meditation, a virtual service held at Stonyhurst College in Lancashire, where Hopkins studied and later taught.
The Queen, who last year broadcast her Easter message during lockdown, will mark the occasion privately at Windsor Castle. She is expected to attend a service at the private chapel within the castle grounds to avoid large crowds of well-wishers gathering.
The Prince has issued his own Easter message for the last few years, using it to address issues including the persecution of Christians worldwide and knife crime. Last year, he recorded a reading for Westminster Abbey's Easter podcast.
He chose God's Grandeur because he thought it captured the "hope and joy" associated with the season. Written by Hopkins almost 150 years ago, the poem promises renewal for both the physical world and our spiritual lives.
It begins: "The world is charged with the grandeur of God. It will flame out, like shining from shook foil; It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?"