A CATHOLIC group has been stopped from celebrating Mass at the Tower of London in memory of Catholic martyrs, apparently on the orders of Queen Elizabeth and the Lord Chancellor, according to a Daily Telegraph report today.
The group, dedicated to veneration of the 16th century martyr St John Fisher, celebrated eucharist in the tower cell where he was imprisoned before his execution under Henry VIII in 1535.
Buckingham Palace and the Lord Chancellor's office said they were unable to comment without further investigation.
The services were held on June 22nd, St John Fisher's Day, from 1991 until 1994 when the then governor of the tower, Maj Gen Christopher Tyler, said they would no longer be allowed, says the Daily Telegraph.
The group's leader, a retired railway executive, Mr Peter Bearcroft, told the paper he believed that the service had the support of Maj Gen Tyler, who as a Catholic himself was allowed to hear Mass privately.
But when Mr Bearcroft asked to hold a separate Mass in the chapel of St Peter ad Vincula, which holds the bones of other Catholic martyrs, he was told that as it was "a Chapel Royal", only the queen could give permission.
He was then told by the queen's private secretary, Sir Robert Fellowes, that if he applied in writing the matter would be raised with the queen, the Telegraph says.
He received a reply that the requested Mass could not be permitted "because of the problems this would create for the governor".
Mr Bearcroft is said to have written back, saying he accepted the queen's decision but did not accept that the governor would be placed in any difficulties in view of what he saw as Maj Gen Tyler's previous support.
. Queen Elizabeth plans to pass most of her duties on to Prince Charles as she gets older, the Daily Express reports today. The newspaper said an unnamed courtier had told one of its reporters: "Although the queen will never abdicate, as Her Majesty gets older she will devolve more and more responsibility to the Prince of Wales."