Prayer by Monarchs About To Enter War

Remember watching Elizabeth I with Glenda Jackson as HM, and before HM
puts plans in motion to wage war/defend England against the Spanish
Armada invasion she begins to recite a prayer (as does Phillip II),
asking for God's "forgiveness" for waging war and victory over her/his
enemies. Have been through all my prayer books and cannot find any such

thomasrex...

I think you mean 'rites' (which can be either right or wrong).
In Canon Donald Gray's anthology of royal prayers (2000, Hodder &
Stoughton Ltd London) All Majesty and Power (which I highly
recommend), there is listed (No. 21) a "Prayer of Queen Elizabeth
before the Armada, 1588". It has no reference to forgiveness for
waging war. On the contrary, it asks that God "bless them [her
armies, both sea and land] and prosper them, and grant unto them
honourable success and victory...O! give good and prosperous success
to all those that fight this battle against the enemies of Thy Gospel
[i.e. Spain]."
Perhaps the prayer in the movie is a conceit of the screenwriter?

prayer. Is or was there ever such prayer said by reining sovereigns
about to wage war? Also if the prayer was from the Catholic rights, one
can understand Phillip II of Spain praying in such a manner, but why
Elizabeth? Does this prayer (if it truly exists and was not the work of
the film makers), come in Protestant and RC versions?

mjcar...

I'd be very surprised if it wasn't fictional, for the purposes of the
film. I know of no such prayer amongst the corpus of State Prayers
from the time of Elizabeth I onwards.