Whether you are a royalist or a republican, or somewhere in between the two, there’s no denying that in the way she has fulfilled her duties the Queen has been a shining example of a life given in service. Many who celebrated her ninetieth birthday this week, and reflected on her 64-year reign, paid tribute to her incredible dedication to a higher cause. Her life has been very much a vocation, which will resonate particularly with people of faith.

One aspect of the Queen’s achievements receives less credit than it deserves. As Supreme Governor of the Church of England, she has extended the hand of friendship to people of all faiths, and from the start she has used her position to promote dialogue and respect. But perhaps it is in her relationship with the papacy that she has done most to reconcile centuries of mistrust and suspicion.

She has visited the Vatican five times, first as a youthful Princess Elizabeth to meet Pope Pius XII, and most recently to meet Pope Francis. But it is the reception she extended to Pope John Paul II during his 1982 visit to Britain, and the honour she accorded Pope Benedict XVI when he made the first ever state visit of a pope to the UK in 2010, which deepened the relationship between the Crown and the papacy substantially.