Father Brian D’Arcy met the late Queen on several occasions – in Northern Ireland, when she visited Ballinamallard in 2002 and Enniskillen in 2012, and also at events in England.

During a meeting with Her Majesty in Windsor Castle, Fr. Brian was surprised to discover that she knew quite a lot about him.

“I later discovered that she was a fan of Terry Wogan’s [shows] and of course, I broadcast with Terry Wogan for 18 years,” he told The Impartial Reporter, noting that Her Majesty enjoyed his ‘Pause for Thoughts’ segment on the radio show and was aware of his absence during his time of illness.

“She knew I was sick, and that I had been in hospital. She knew all of that, and she said she was wondering was I coming back to broadcasting.

“Of course it was quite a shock that she had that kind of detail in her head about an insignificant little guy from Bellanaleck,” he said, fondly remembering the encounter, and going on to recall another meeting, when he was invited over to London to have lunch with The Queen and Prince Philip shortly after their 70th wedding anniversary.

“It was a lovely day. I spent two hours at lunch with them and we chatted about many, many things,” said Fr. Brian, who was struck by Her Majesty’s “outstanding” Christian faith and deep respect for other faiths.

“I was terribly impressed by her humility, and her ability to talk about faith, and other faiths; to understand that each faith had a great gift to offer to the world, and that she was very much a believer in the Christian faith, and had a personal relationship with Christ which she developed every day by her own private prayer,” he said.

He added: “She was very keen to stress that we should express those sorts of views in public as often as we could. She seemed a little disappointed that perhaps faith was not talked about as much as it should.

“She was very much encouraging me to talk about [faith] in the broadcast, and also to highlight the value of a spiritual life in the proper, mature development of our own relationships with one another, and with a higher power,” explained Father Brian, saying that it was an “extraordinary insight” into a person who had for many years kept her faith quiet, apart from the way she lived.

“I think, possibly from the turn of the millennium, she realised that we needed to practice, to have respect for all faiths, and to understand that our own Christian belief was important to us as well.

“Not that she was running down any other faiths – on the contrary, she was saying all faiths have something to offer the world, and we should encourage it [faith].

“It was just the fact that God seemed to be disappearing from society that seemed to be of concern to her. [We had a] long conversation around that, and she was very ennobling and very helpful.

“She asked a lot of questions about life and about communication, about faith, about family and about all values that we should have, and how to communicate those values, in a way that people understood them.

“She was very anxious to do that, and I think it was obvious in the last 10 Christmas broadcasts,” said Fr. Brian, explaining how he believed that highlighting the importance of Christ on Christmas Day was imperative to Her Majesty.

Fr. Brian also met The Queen when she visited Enniskillen in 2012, and witnessed her historic steps, crossing the road from St. Macartin’s Cathedral to enter St. Michael’s Church.

“It was a great thing because it had developed from Cecil Pringle [The Venerable Cecil Pringle, Archdeacon Emeritus] and myself in Rossorry [Parish Church] and The Graan, and had grown to something important in the community and was brought to a zenith by the walk [from St. Macartin’s to] St. Michael’s.

“In St. Michael’s, [The Queen] said to me on that day, ‘This is the first Catholic Church I’ve been in in Ireland’, which surprised me in a way.

“It was a simple thing to do, but it was highly significant in another way,” he added, noting that it was very symbolic.

“Symbols are important as a way of starting, but it’s not the end result. She mentioned this particularly, that when we go do symbolic acts, it is a way of breaking new ground so that others can follow that and continue to do it.”

Paying tribute to The Queen and commending her dedicated service, Fr. Brian said: “She lived a life of service to the community, she had taken a vow on her Coronation Day to serve all the people of the Commonwealth and of Britain to the best of her ability in every way possible.

“Anyone who heard that vow, and understood what she was saying, would know that she would never retire or never step down, because she said she would do it as long as she lived, and she did.

“[It was an incredible thing that she had worked in the service of the community, right to the very end of her life, and in very difficult circumstances, in very different eras and in times of turmoil in her own family.

“In all of that she showed a dedication to the service of the community, which is a Christian way of life, and she lived it.

“I think that’s an example of her life that should not be forgotten,” he told this newspaper.