A leading church figure who played a major part in the campaign to introduce female priests had a ball when she went down to Buckingham Palace to collect her CBE from Prince Charles.
Christina Rees, who lived in Barley for 35 years before moving to Throcking, received the title in recognition of her ‘services to the Church of England’.
She said: “It was so much fun – just one of those days when the sun was shining and the sky was blue.
“Prince Charles and I shared a joke. I said: ‘Radio 4 is a lovely place’ and he said: ‘Yes, apart from when you feel like picking up the radio and throwing it across the room.’
“He was very friendly, and not too formal.”
Christina, who will become dean of Little Gidding this summer, was a member of the General Synod for 25 years, and a founding member of the Archbishops’ Council.
She was spokesperson for the Movement for the Ordination of Women in the run up to the vote for women priests in 1992 and chaired Women and the Church for more than 13 years, successfully campaigning for women bishops.
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