Rev WIlliam Gulliford

MOVE over Nicholas Witchell, the vicar of St Mark’s Church, Regent’s Park, will be giving royal broadcasting a go – in France.

French-speaker Rev William Gulliford has been asked to commentate on the Queen’s funeral service on Monday for TF1, the French equivalent of the BBC, after his colleagues at the Diocese in Europe were unavailable to do it.

His Eurostar is booked and he is due to be on air around noon (CEST) today (Monday September 19). Having never done something like this before, Rev Gulliford told the New Journal he was feeling “a bit apprehensive” but “knows how these things work” and has a “fair amount of knowledge” about the Queen.

Rev Gulliford said: “Being minister of a Church of England, which the Queen was head of, we pray for her every service. She’s part of our consciousness not just because she’s on our stamps, she’s in our prayers.”

On Monday, the vicar hopes to channel the revered BBC commentator and actor Tom Fleming, who passed away in 2010.

Rev Gulliford said: “He had a wonderful rich voice and a particular tone about how he did things. He just knew how to convey the solemnity about something.”