Charles tribute for Prayer Book

The Prince of Wales met members of the Prayer Book Society

Prince Charles has praised the "power and majesty" of the Book of Common Prayer on the 450th anniversary of the martyrdom of its author Thomas Cranmer.

The Prince of Wales said the work put "the essential virtues of resilience and balance" in English culture.

Had the book not existed English would have been very different today, and deprived of words such as resurrection and crucified - the prince added.

He was speaking to the Prayer Book Society of which he is patron.

'Millions assembled'

He said: "The prayer book largely created and spread standard English across the country in the 16th century as a result of Sunday worship in the parish church - when week after week millions would assemble to hear the power and majesty of the Book of Common Prayer.

"And how lucky they were, and we are, that the prayer book was composed by Thomas Cranmer who had such an ear for formal prose, for its sonorities and structure."

The prince addressed 120 members of the society at their annual conference at Lady Margaret Hall's College in Oxford, the city where Archbishop Cranmer was executed under the reign of Queen Mary.

He praised the work of the society which promotes and preserves the use of the Book of Common Prayer.

The society also introduces the book to young people, trainee priests and church councils.

Its work created an important "generational link", keeping traditional values central in modern Anglican worship, the prince said.

He had a private meeting with the society's board of trustees before giving his speech in the college's Old Library.