Queen Elizabeth II was a woman of deep Christian faith who loved God's Word and enjoyed having "Bible studies" with the late evangelist Billy Graham when he was in London, Graham's son Franklin Graham says.

"She was faithful and steadfast in her faith in God," Franklin Graham told ABC News Live. "… She honored the Lord Jesus Christ. And she wasn't afraid to live her faith."

Queen Elizabeth II passed away Sept. 8, roughly four and a half years after the eldest Graham died. Billy Graham wrote in his autobiography Just As I Am that he "always found" Queen Elizabeth "very interested in the Bible and its message." He recounted a story of preaching at Windsor Castle one Sunday and telling the queen he nearly had chosen a sermon about the crippled man in John 5 but decided against it.

"Her eyes sparkled, and she bubbled over with enthusiasm, as she could do on occasion," Billy Graham wrote. "'I wish you had!' she exclaimed. 'That is my favorite story.'"

Franklin Graham said of Queen Elizabeth's faith: She "lived it and believed it."

"Every time they were together, she would want to talk about Scripture," Franklin Graham said. "And if my father had preached, she would ask more detail about his message and what made him want to preach that sermon versus another one and so forth. And they had great ... Bible studies together.

"... The personal connection was God and His Word, and that's what brought them together. And that was what they had in common was God's Word. And she had a love for the Word of God. My father had a love for the Word of God."

Queen Elizabeth also lived her life with humility, Graham added. One morning after Graham's parents spent the night at the castle, they went to the kitchen for breakfast and saw a woman in an "old raincoat" wearing a scarf, feeding the dogs. Graham's parents assumed it was a worker at the castle, but instead, it was the queen.

"My father remarked time and time again [that] she was a very humble and gracious individual," Franklin Graham said. "So for him, it was just a privilege to know her."

Queen Elizabeth II Passes Away at 96

Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/Pool, ©Getty Images/Keystone/Stringer

Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.