Their Royal Highnesses The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall attended a ceremony at Westminster Abbey on 7th February 2012 at 11.15 am to celebrate the life and work of Charles Dickens on the 200th anniversary of his birth. The great Victorian writer was buried in the South Transept of Westminster Abbey on 14th June 1870. Excerpts of Dickens' writings were read during the ceremony. Claire Tomalin, Dickens' biographer, read from a letter that Dickens wrote to his sister. Mark Charles Dickens, Great Great Grandson and Head of the Dickens Family, read from The Life of Our Lord, which Dickens wrote for his children. Actor and director Ralph Fiennes read 'Jo's Will' from Bleak House. The Right Reverend Michael Dickens Whinney, Great Great Grandson, read Luke 14: 7-14. The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Reverend and Right Honourable Dr Rowan Williams, gave the address.

The Reverend Andrew Tremlett, Canon in Residence. In this Sermon for Candlemas, the Christian aspiration to ‘a good death’, dying prepared is considered in the light of Simeon’s response: 'Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace'.

The Most Reverend and Right Honourable Dr Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury. What is a good translation?  Not one that just allows me to say, when I pick it up, ‘Now I understand’.  Of course, if I’m faced with a text in a strange language, I need to be able simply to read it; but a good translation will be an invitation to read again, and to probe, and reflect, and imagine with the text.  Rather than letting me say, ‘Now I understand’, it prompts the response, ‘Now the work begins.’

The Very Reverend Dr John Hall, Dean of Westminster. In our minds and hearts, this afternoon, as we come to receive the bread and wine, which are the Body and Blood of Christ, the fruits of Christ’s sacrifice, we bring as it were to stand beside us the souls of all those we love and see no longer.

The Very Reverend Dr John Hall, Dean of Westminster. The way of the saints is a way we can tread as well as the saints. Our weak wilfulness is no barrier to God, whose love is made perfect in weakness.