Category: Parliament

Dafydd Wigley – 2022 Tribute to HM Queen Elizabeth II

The tribute made by Dafydd Wigley, Lord Wigley, in the House of Lords on 9 September 2022.

My Lords, I rise to speak on behalf of Plaid Cymru in paying our tribute to the late Queen and extending our sympathy and condolences to all the Royal Family.

Seventy years ago, on a February morning, I was whisked away from my primary school in Bontnewydd by my father and taken down to Caernarfon where, on the steps outside the law courts, a proclamation was made, following the death of the King, that we had a new Queen. At the end of it, my father whispered to me, “It may be quite a time before you experience that again.” It most certainly has been.

As the MP for Caernarfon, I had the honour of welcoming Her Majesty to the constituency on several occasions. She always came with dignity and charm, and was always so well informed. The most memorable occasion for me was her opening of Wales’s National Assembly in 1999—our first Parliament for 600 years. On the day, I was with her, as was the noble and learned Lord, Lord Morris of Aberavon, the noble Lord, Lord Elis-Thomas, and the then First Minister, Alun Michael. It was an honour indeed. She carried out that day with such dignity.

That evening, the celebration dinner coincided with the European Cup final, with Manchester United losing by a goal with a minute to go. They then equalised, and the joy was palpable. When they scored the winning goal in injury time, her “Whoopee!” was heard by the whole room as she almost rose out of her seat.

Her visit to the Welsh Senedd last summer was one of her last public engagements away from London and was very much appreciated. That was the occasion when she was overheard, one almost thinks deliberately, emphasising the importance of the Glasgow climate conference—a sentiment that will undoubtedly be shared by our new monarch.

Queen Elizabeth’s grace, humour, patience and devotion to duty were, and are, an inspiration to us all. Whatever our future debates about the constitutional relationships between the nations of these islands, Queen Elizabeth II has ensured that the monarchy is not in question and is a symbol of the shared heritage that we have within our diverse political structures and ambitions. May King Charles III inherit her remarkable talents and may she rest in peace.

September 13, 2022
Joan Walmsley – 2022 Tribute to HM Queen Elizabeth II

The tribute made by Joan Walmsley, Baroness Walmsley, in the House of Lords on 9 September 2022.

My Lords, I shall say a few words from these Benches on behalf of myself and my co-deputy leader, my noble friend Lord Dholakia, who is unable to be with us today.

Her late Majesty, like many women, was thrown into a difficult role at a time when she least expected it, yet, like many women, she pulled herself together despite her grief and got on with her job—or her calling, as she saw it. She did it in her own way, as I am sure our new King, King Charles, will also do, adapting her approach as appropriate over the years. As the noble Lord, Lord McConnell, just said, she managed to achieve a balance between consistency and flexibility, and she did it with grace, charm, dignity and dedication. She was at the heart of her family and the nation, and supported us all in good times and in bad. We will miss her among us, as she has so often been.

Everyone who met her has an anecdote about our late Queen, but I am not going to share mine today. Instead, I should like to share just a couple of things that I take away from her long life of service.

First, you always knew which side she was on. She was on my side and your side. She was on the side of all the people of our nation and Commonwealth. She wanted us all to do well. I had the impression that she particularly enjoyed the opportunity to recognise people’s achievements and contributions to the nation or their community when she honoured them at investitures and visits throughout the country. She never took sides, expect when there was a chance that her horse might win the race.

That was one of the occasions when we saw the other thing I will always remember: her radiant and rather infectious smile, which often gave us a glimpse of her famous sense of humour. She smiled at young and old, rich and poor—especially poor. She smiled at heads of state and little girls making wobbly curtseys as they presented a posy of flowers. She smiled at Paddington Bear and made us all smile too. So, as we go about our own public duties, perhaps we should remember to smile a little more, as Her Majesty often did even when she was tired. Perhaps we should do it especially when we do not agree with each other.

As we mourn the loss of our Queen and express our loyalty to our new King, King Charles, who takes up the responsibilities for which she prepared him at a time when he is also mourning his mother—and, indeed, his father, so recently passed away—I am sure that we will all want to express our sympathy to him and his family in their very personal loss. As I look back at more than 70 years of service, I want simply to say, “Thank you, Ma’am.”

September 13, 2022
John McFall (Baron McFall) – 2022 Address to HM King Charles III

The address made by John McFall, Baron McFall of Alcluith, the Lord Speaker, in Westminster Hall on 12 September 2022.

Your Majesty, I welcome you and Her Majesty the Queen Consort to Parliament today, on this solemn occasion.

Her late Majesty, our treasured Queen, and your beloved and deeply missed Mother, came here to Westminster Hall many times to receive the congratulations of her loyal subjects in the two Houses of Parliament and to celebrate with them historic landmarks and her long life of dedicated public service. She was both a Leader to, and a servant of, Her people. Her humility and integrity commanded the respect and captured the imagination of peoples and nations across the globe. Her late Majesty’s joyous, unstinting and reassuring presence across the years made it difficult to contemplate that her long and inspiring reign of deep and unparalleled devotion would ever end. We, and the nation, closed our eyes to this inevitability.

But it has ended, only a few months after we celebrated Her late Majesty’s historic platinum jubilee. And as You said so movingly, Your Majesty, in Your address to the nation, we all now feel a “sense of loss, beyond measure”.

Nevertheless, the qualities that Her late Majesty embodied with such constancy remain, to inspire You, Your Majesty, your family, and all your subjects. We remember Her commitment. Her kindness. Her humour. Her courage and Her fortitude. And the deep faith which was the anchor in her life.

Your Majesty, this is a historic space, its walls built more than 900 years ago by William Rufus, the magnificent hammerbeam roof commissioned 300 years later by Richard II.

Since medieval times much of our national story has taken place within these very walls, from civic gatherings, to Coronation Banquets, to the centuries during which this Hall was the heart of our legal system.

But this ancient Hall is a living space, and like our great nation it continues to evolve. In 2012 Her late Majesty came to Westminster Hall to mark her Diamond Jubilee, and we saw the unveiling of the splendid memorial window, commissioned by Members of both Houses of Parliament, which now graces the north wall of this historic space.

And now, for ten years, the light from that window has added beauty to the grey stones of this place, bathing them in colour and reminding hundreds of thousands of visitors to the Palace of Westminster of Her late Majesty’s dedicated life of service.

Like the light that shines through this memorial window, Her late Majesty’s magnificent achievements will live on by permanently illuminating and enriching our lives and our national discourse. Your Majesty, even as we mourn the loss of our dear Queen, we, and future generations, will draw strength from Her shining example.

Your Majesty, on behalf of all the members of the House of Lords I pledge my loyalty to You, and wish You, and Her Majesty the Queen Consort, well in the life of service to which You have dedicated yourself. We are proud and humbled to welcome you as our King, and we look forward to welcoming You on many more occasions to Parliament, and to this Hall, in the years ahead.

Finally, Your Majesty, the House has commissioned me to deliver the following Humble Address, which their Lordships agreed on the tenth of September. I shall now read the Address:

Most Gracious Sovereign,

We, Your Majesty’s most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament assembled, beg leave to convey to Your Majesty the deep sympathy felt by this House in the grief Your Majesty has sustained by the death of our late beloved Queen, Your Majesty’s Mother, of blessed and glorious memory;

To extend to all the Royal Family the deep sympathy of this House in their grief, which is shared by all its Members;

To assure Your Majesty that the example of selfless public service which our late Sovereign displayed over Her reign of 70 years, Her untiring endeavours for the welfare of Her peoples and Her fortitude in adversity will ever be held in reverent, affectionate, and grateful remembrance;

And to express to Your Majesty our loyalty to Your Majesty’s Royal Person, and our firm conviction that, under the blessing of Divine Providence, Your Majesty will, throughout Your Reign, further the happiness and protect the liberties of all Your peoples in all Your Realms.

September 12, 2022
Lindsay Hoyle – 2022 Address to HM King Charles III

The address made by Lindsay Hoyle, the Speaker of the House of Commons, to King Charles III at Westminster Hall on 12 September 2022.

Your Majesty,

Let me repeat our welcome to You, and to Her Majesty, the Queen Consort, on this solemn occasion.

Members of both Houses of Parliament gather here to express our deep sympathy for the loss we have all sustained in the death of our Sovereign Lady, Queen Elizabeth.

We have seen that this is a loss felt around the world. It is a loss to the United Kingdom, the overseas territories, the crown dependencies and the many countries over which she reigned. It is a loss to the entire Commonwealth, which she did so much to nurture. It is a loss to all of us.

But we know most of all it is a loss to You, Your Majesty, and to the Royal Family.

Newspapers have been filled with photographs of Her late Majesty since the news broke. The most touching have been those glimpses into the family life which were most usually kept sheltered from public view.

Deep as our grief is, we know Yours is deeper, and we offer our heartfelt sympathy to You and all the Royal Family.

We know that there is nothing we can say in praise of our late Queen – Your mother – that You will not already know. Over the past days Members of the House have spoken of their encounters with Queen Elizabeth. They have spoken of her sense of duty, her wisdom, her kindness and her humour. How she touched the lives of hundreds of thousands of their constituents in her visits to every part of the country Their words have been heartfelt.

She sat in this historic Hall, as You sit now, on many occasions. Some of those occasions were to celebrate milestones in her own reign. The addresses to celebrate her Silver, Golden and Diamond Jubilees shared a common thread: that our constitutional monarchy is a symbol of stability in an ever-changing world.

As Speaker Boothroyd said, Queen Elizabeth’s “wisdom and grace, […] demonstrated for all to see the value of a constitutional monarchy in securing the liberties of our citizens and the fundamental unity of this Kingdom and the Commonwealth.”

On other occasions our late Queen was here to mark historic moments such as the fiftieth anniversary of the second world war, a war in which she herself served in the armed forces. And in 1988 we celebrated the three hundredth anniversary of the Revolutions of 1688 to 1689.

It is perhaps very British to celebrate revolutions by presenting an Address to her Majesty. But those Revolutions led to our constitutional freedoms and set the foundation for a stable monarchy which protects liberty. In Your first address to the nation, You recognised Your life would change as a result of your new responsibilities. You pledged Yourself to uphold the constitutional principles at the heart of our nation.

These are weighty responsibilities. As the late Queen’s namesake, the earlier Queen Elizabeth, said in her final speech to parliamentarians:
“To be a king and wear a crown, is a thing more glorious to them that see it, than it is pleasant to them that bear it”

We know you hold in the greatest respect the precious traditions, freedoms and responsibilities of our unique history and our system of parliamentary government.

We know that You will bear those responsibilities which fall to You with the fortitude and dignity demonstrated by Her late Majesty. When the House met after the Accession Council yesterday my first, symbolic, Act was to make the oath to be faithful and bear true allegiance to Your Majesty, King Charles.

And so it is my duty to present our Humble Address to You, our new King, to express both our sorrow at the loss of our Sovereign Lady, and our confidence in the future, in Your Reign:

Most Gracious Sovereign,

We, Your Majesty’s most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Parliament assembled, express the deep sympathy felt by this House for the great sorrow which Your Majesty has sustained by the death of the late Queen, Your Majesty’s mother; extend to all the Royal Family the deep sympathy of this House in their grief, which is shared by all its Members; assure Your Majesty that Her late Majesty’s unstinting dedication over a reign of over seventy years to the service of our great country and its people, and to the service of the countries and peoples of the rest of the wider Commonwealth, will always be held in affectionate and grateful remembrance; and express to Your Majesty our loyalty to You and our conviction that You will strive to uphold the liberties and to promote the happiness of the people in all Your realms now and in the years to come.

September 12, 2022
Jack McConnell – 2022 Tribute to HM Queen Elizabeth II (Baron McConnell of Glenscorrodale)

The tribute made by Jack McConnell, Baron McConnell of Glenscorrodale, in the House of Lords on 9 September 2022.

My Lords, I echo the thanks and congratulations of the noble Lord, Lord Forsyth, to the Front-Bench speakers, who all spoke so eloquently and movingly for us today. I have no wish to duplicate or repeat what they said; I just want to add a few remarks of my own.

Very few of us will be lucky enough to pass away in the place that we love the most, but we saw this week, after such a life of service, our Queen deservedly pass away in a place that she loved perhaps more than any other. That must have brought her, her family and her staff incredible solace. Balmoral was a very special place to the Queen. It was a place where she not only conducted official duties but was able to relax and have fun with official visitors and with family and friends.

Like the most reverend Primate, some of us have had the incredible privilege of enjoying those barbecues—not at Sandringham, in my case, but at Balmoral, where she would pretend to race with her staff up through the hills to the cottage where the barbecues took place. She was jokingly racing—she would always say to me that she knew that they were never going to try to pass her, but she had to pretend to be part of the race anyway and get there first. She would roll up her sleeves and help set the fire, set the table and clear up afterwards. It was somewhere where she really felt at home. As First Minister, I enjoyed those moments more than I ever expected to. My nerves went after the first year and, as the years went by, we enjoyed sharing stories and experiences.

I recall in particular when the Queen told a story about two American tourists, who had been on a bus trip and had wandered round the back of Balmoral to the rose garden, where she was tending the roses with her headscarf and sunglasses on. Of course, they did not recognise her. They broke into conversation: they asked her what it was like to work for the Queen and whether the Queen never tended the roses herself. She played along with it for five minutes or so, and they were very grateful for the opportunity to hear so much about the life of the Queen from one of her staff. They went back round to the bus to leave Balmoral, and she very quickly nipped into the kitchen, took her headscarf and sunglasses off, went out the front door and waved goodbye to the bus, only to see these two American tourists looking out the window, nudging everybody and saying that they had just spoken to her in the garden. That great sense of humour and fun was remarkable, and it was a privilege to have seen it up close.

I also appreciated, as I am absolutely certain previous and current First Ministers in the devolved Governments have, her interest in, and the time spent with her discussing, the way in which devolution was developing in the United Kingdom and the issues at play, good and bad, in our devolved nations.

We have heard a lot this week about consistency. Although her consistency was important, it was also very important that she was able to change and adapt with the times as society changed over the decades she served us. Her ability to embrace that change was, for me, just as important as the consistency of her values.

Her relationship with Scotland did not begin in 1999, but her relationship with Scotland informed her ability to embrace the constitutional changes that took place that year and to show real empathy, respect and support for the new institutions, not just in Edinburgh but in Cardiff and Belfast too. She met the new Cabinet in 1999 and she embodied the positive celebrations that we had in those early days. Crucially, in 2002, during that Golden Jubilee, she came to the Scottish Parliament again and reminded us of the importance of the long-term goal, helping us steady the ship after those rocky first three years and giving us a lead by saying that, if you serve the people, you will get there in the end. That made a huge difference to the Parliament and to Scotland at the time.

She understood that the UK was four nations but, more than that, she understood the Commonwealth—that tapestry of nations that she did so much to nurture and support. I was amazed to get a text today at 7 am. This time last week, I was in Maganga Secondary School in Salima, in rural Malawi—a school where none of the girls had ever visited a big city or seen a television. The head teacher sent me a text this morning which reads: “On behalf of Maganga School, staff and students, I would like to sincerely express our sadness upon hearing about the death of the Queen, Queen Elizabeth II. As a school, we are very sorry for that great loss. She was our Queen, and a great personality to us all. May the good Lord be with the bereaved family.” That is the mark of the impact that she had around the world, not just for leaders, not just for history, but right now, today, in some of the poorest villages in Malawi and elsewhere.

Finally, I want to recall her kindness to my family and my staff, and her commitment to her own family—remember, she was a mother, a grandmother and a great-grandmother, and her family will be grieving desperately this weekend. I thank her for her support, and know that she would want us to give full support to King Charles III; I thank her for her service; I thank her personally for those treasured moments that I have. We are poorer for her passing, but we are richer and stronger for her life.

September 12, 2022
Michael Forsyth – 2022 Tribute to HM Queen Elizabeth II (Lord Forsyth of Drumlean)

The tribute made by Michael Forsyth, Lord Forsyth of Drumlean, in the House of Lords on 9 September 2022.

My Lords, I begin by congratulating my noble friend Lady Williams on her appointment as Chief Whip. I am very sad that her first duties should be in connection with this sad news, but we look forward to great things from her.

My Lords, I am lost for words. Having listened to the fantastic tribute made by the new Leader of the House—what a tremendous 24 or 48 hours he has had—and to those from the Leader of the Opposition, the noble Baroness, Lady Smith, from the noble Lord, Lord Newby, from the noble and learned Lord, Lord Judge, on the Cross Benches, and in particular the contribution of the most reverend Primate the Archbishop of Canterbury. There is very little I can say that is new to encapsulate what we are all feeling at this present time. However, I would like to express and extend my sympathy to His Majesty the King and members of the Royal Family on this day of great sadness but also thankfulness.

I do not know if I am alone in experiencing feelings of bereavement and sadness that quite took me by surprise yesterday evening. I found myself hugely emotional, and I think many people in the country felt the same, on hearing the dreadful news. I think we all secretly hoped that the Queen would go on forever—a view that was expressed by the noble Lord, Lord Newby, and by the noble and learned Lord, Lord Judge, earlier. However, I would like to concentrate on the thankfulness rather than the sadness: thankfulness for the example, the dedication, the stability, the love and the leadership that Queen Elizabeth gave to our country and the Commonwealth. As we heard today, the thousands of tributes from every corner of the globe talk of duty, dignity, humility, integrity, humanity, compassion, kindness and faith, which were indeed the hallmarks of our late Queen and shone brightly in everything she did.

As Secretary of State for Scotland I was privileged to spend some time with her, and in Royal Week, where my role was basically to follow behind carrying the handbag, almost, I was privileged to spend some time with her and to see these qualities and her sense of humour at first hand. Her love of Scotland and her dedication to the United Kingdom—our United Kingdom—are well known, and it is a real blessing that she was able to die in her own bed in her beloved Balmoral in Scotland, having carried out her duties right to the end.

In the many millions of words written about her in the last 24 hours all over the world, many folk will have commented on how she could have shown these astonishing qualities so consistently over so many years and carried that great burden of office and responsibilities without putting a foot wrong. I believe, as the most reverend Primate indicated in his remarks, that the key to answering that question lies in her Christian faith and a life lived following the teachings of Jesus Christ. May God bless her and may she rest in peace.

September 12, 2022
Penny Mordaunt – 2022 Tribute to HM Queen Elizabeth II

The tribute made by Penny Mordaunt, the Leader of the House, in the House of Commons on 10 September 2022.

It is an honour to bring to a close the tributes paid to her most Gracious Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. I speak today as Leader of the House of Commons, but also for the people of Portsmouth, a city she visited not just for fleet reviews, civic events, homecomings, or ship commissioning, but in transit to board her beloved Royal Yacht Britannia. In all cases, the people of my city remember her connection to and understanding of the tools of UK sea power, our sailors, our civilians, their families, our dockyard and our warships. For a time, that was her life, too: she had worn a uniform; she was a naval wife. She understood service and sacrifice and the burdens people carried. That empathy was evident in all that she did. It was no surprise to hear so many tributes from hon. and right hon. Members full of examples of that personal kindness, or of her concern and care for the staff of this estate, including her desire for the Vice-Chamberlain’s weekly notes to keep her up to speed on the gossip.

The Queen was our Polaris, but she was not a distant Queen. She took an interest in us all, because she recognised the burden of service. Her reign began with a very public grief, because she could not mourn her father in private. She loved Balmoral not just for its beauty and peace, but because she got to sleep in the same bed for a whole six weeks. Of all the exceptional things that she did, of all the people and places that she experienced, her rare night of normality, of freedom, out with her sister to celebrate victory in Europe was, in her words, “one of the most memorable”. For me, the fact that she met her new Prime Minister in person and prepared to take a Privy Council 24 hours before her death illustrates the depth of her devotion to duty.

The Queen lived and died in the service of the nation, as her father and his father before him did. In the final analysis, this then is the measure of all greatness. It is not weighed by gain, but in loss. Sacrifice is the ultimate test of faith and duty. All that is yours must be laid down for all that is us. All that is they must be laid down for all that is we. For only those that bear this cross can wear the crown, because crowns are not made just of jewels and precious metals; they are mostly made of love.

Speaking after 9/11, the Queen comforted us and the rest of the world by saying that grief was the price of love. Her words should comfort us still. We may now feel lost and uncertain, just like some may have felt 70 years ago when she vowed that her life would be dedicated to us. If only they had known what a life she would lead, what glories and hope and vision she would bestow. They need not have worried, and nor should we now. Like his mother’s grief at her father’s death, His Majesty’s grief, too, will not be a private one. He will lead us in mourning. He also carries the cross—a cross of sacrifice and service.

Our great Queen has entrusted us all with a living legacy of triumph over tribulation, of cheerfulness over challenge, and of dedication and determination. She has left us, but her values remain with us. Her example compels us to continued fidelity to our King and our country. God save the King.

September 11, 2022
Thangam Debbonaire – 2022 Tribute to HM Queen Elizabeth II

The tribute made by Thangam Debbonaire, the Labour MP for Bristol West, in the House of Commons on 10 September 2022.

First, it is a great pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Windsor (Adam Afriyie), and I had a feeling he would have more anecdotes than I do.

It is truly an honour to close these two days of tributes to Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. I have heard almost all of them either here or in my office, and truly every speech has been superb. I am so proud of how we, her Parliament, have come together to pay tribute, and I really think we have done her proud. Colleagues have sent condolences to the royal family on behalf of their constituents, and on behalf of the people of Bristol West and my own family, I do so, too.

From the opening speeches by the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition, followed by the Father and the Mother of the House, to those of the Members here now and the hundreds in between, I am grateful to each and every colleague, as I also am to the Clerks, Doorkeepers and staff who have enabled this to happen. I truly thank everyone. It is impossible to do the normal round-up closing speech, so I will try to pick out themes instead, because we have explored so many of service and of faith. We have had poetry and prose, and quite a lot of comedy. There have been perspectives from history and of progress. I am aware—I hope I have my dates right—that Her late Majesty’s first Prime Minister was born in 1874 and her last in 1975. What a span of historical perspective.

Many spoke wittily of their own time with the late Queen, to illustrate her character. To pick one out, who knew that the tale of a plate of cheese delivered with a wry raised eyebrow by the former Prime Minister, the right hon. Member for Maidenhead (Mrs May), could evoke the Queen so well? We have heard many stories of mishaps on footstools, some of them with Her late Majesty saving people’s dignity, but some of them just managing to turn it into a comedy moment.

The Mother of the House and many others spoke of the significance of the late Queen as a female leader and role model. Indeed, in her Christmas broadcast in 1966, the Queen said that

“it has been women who have breathed gentleness and care into the harsh progress of mankind.”

I have thought about that remark a lot in the past couple of days.

Some colleagues spoke eloquently of their time with the late Queen in other countries—the greatest diplomat on the world stage in our corner, representing Britain—and many talked about her close bond and relationships with our armed forces and others in uniform. We have toured all the nations and every region—it seems like every village, town and city—and felt the sense of pride that she had in all of this country and all of us in it, where she shook more hands, unveiled more plaques and gifted more smiles than anywhere else.

I have learned a great deal more about how a constitutional monarchy operates from those who interacted with Her late Majesty in governmental office, and of her kindness to those whose governmental career had ended. Ardent monarchists and those with a different view alike expressed huge respect for her dedication to public service. Her ability to transcend politics and to represent the national mood meant that she was a unifying figure through which the public could share our nation’s joys and bring much-needed comfort in our country’s darkest hours. I feel that today we have transcended politics and come together.

Many speakers mentioned the late Queen’s pitch-perfect television statements during the pandemic, which so movingly connected our collective trauma in those fearful months in 2020 with the anguish instilled in the world war two generation. Remembering her invocation of Vera Lynn’s wartime message, “We’ll meet again” brings a lump to my throat—so poignant—but she also said:

“the attributes of self-discipline, of quiet good-humoured resolve and of fellow-feeling still characterise this country. The pride in who we are is not a part of our past, it defines our present and our future.”

Many spoke of how, aged just 21, the then Princess Elizabeth declared that her whole life, whether it be long or short, should be devoted to our service. That was a promise she fulfilled right until the very end. Grief, as Her late Majesty said, is the price we pay for love, but who would want to live without love? We suffer that grief willingly. Whatever the age at which our loved ones leave us, whether their life was long or short, we always grief for that lost presence—the years we are robbed of. We yearn for just one more week, one more day, just one more hour with them. Knowing how that feels, and knowing that the royal family must be feeling that right now, even in the midst of all the formalities and the public duties, we keep them in our hearts.

I hope that, by reflecting together on the Queen’s life over the past two days, we can appreciate the concept of a life well lived. Whether you are a brownie or an MP, whether you work in the NHS or in education, whether you were a key worker or a volunteer during the pandemic, whether you work in hospitality or a factory, whether you are simply a mother, a father, a brother, a sister, a friend or a neighbour, each day brings all of us a new opportunity to live up to the ideal set by the late Queen’s life well lived. That is perhaps the biggest tribute we can pay to the ultimate public servant, conscious as we go about our lives of how we can help one another, contribute to the common good and work toward an even better Britain. In the doing of duty and service, we sometimes think of sacrifice, but in the tributes offered here we can all recognise that, in fact, these make a good life. We MPs, who willingly chose our life of duty and service, can renew our commitment to them now as we celebrate the one who, though that life was thrust upon her, followed it unstintingly for 70 years. We must carry forward this Elizabethan legacy of public service for generations to come, for this truly is patriotism.

May Her late Majesty rest in peace and the legacy of the great Elizabethan age continue. May His Majesty King Charles III have a long and successful reign. Long live the King.

September 11, 2022
Adam Afriyie – 2022 Tribute to HM Queen Elizabeth II

The tribute made by Adam Afriyie, the Conservative MP for Windsor, in the House of Commons on 10 September 2022.

Her Majesty the Queen was the heart of Windsor, and it is in some ways fitting that my words will be the last of the Back-Bench tributes to Her Majesty. I wish to pass on condolences not just from me but from my many constituents to the royal family.

The Queen was an exceptional monarch through an extraordinary era. Even before her coronation, the young Elizabeth made a vow to devote her life to serving her country. She kept her promise, and she surpassed our expectations. She has been the constant in an ever-changing world not just for Windsor, but for the country, the Commonwealth, and in the hearts and minds of all those around the world. She has been the embodiment of the United Kingdom. She has been projecting all that is good about our nation across the globe for more than 70 years, and her image is our image to the world.

She was the omnipresent Queen. I have been listening to the tributes in this debate, and it seems as though the Queen has been to every part of our United Kingdom. Everybody has a story to tell and everyone in this Chamber has a story to tell. I can tell the House that, as the Prime Minister’s trade envoy to parts of west Africa, everybody there has a story to tell as well. Everyone has a story to tell about our omnipresent Queen. Nationally and internationally, she is recognised.

Yet amid all her duties, responsibilities and commitments, the Queen remained ever-present in the Windsor constituency, one of her favourite homes. People felt her presence everywhere across the constituency—absolutely everywhere. As the MP, I have had the privilege of greeting Heads of State as they arrived in Windsor, albeit in the shadows of Her Majesty, and I could witness at first hand her incisive wit and her cool and calm humour, which set guests at their ease. Aside from seeing the Queen at Royal Ascot, the Savill garden, the Combermere barracks and the Victoria barracks, or at military parades, virtually every constituent will have seen or met her, or knew somebody very close to them who had.

If people lived in Windsor, there was no escape—none whatsoever. If they were strolling in Windsor Great park, they would inevitably bump into the Queen walking, driving or, in the past, on a horse. Their children were likely to see her at school or at college, and for anyone working for our many charities and good causes, it was inevitable that they would receive visits and great patronage from the Queen. When it came to our businesses, if the foundation stone of the building was not laid by the Queen, a plaque with her name was placed there on her opening it, or the business received a letter or an invite to the Castle. Whether people knew it or not, even when they were shopping in the King Edward Court centre in central Windsor, it was inevitable that they would bump into Her Majesty on occasion. She was everywhere: she was truly omnipresent. So I am not surprised—I am not—that her last official engagement was at the Thames hospice in our local area. It makes sense in so many ways.

In closing, it is difficult for me to express just how much the Queen will be missed in Windsor and how thankful we are to have known her. She was our omnipresent Queen—the Queen of constancy—and her image is our image to the world. In future, in this place and across the country, we must strive to live up to her image of us. In Windsor the Queen will live on in our parks, lakes and buildings, and in our memories. She will live on in her eldest son, and I say without hesitation, long live King Charles III.

September 11, 2022
Nusrat Ghani – 2022 Tribute to HM Queen Elizabeth II

The tribute made by Nusrat Ghani, the Conservative for Wealden, in the House of Commons on 10 September 2022.

I rise with a heavy heart tonight to pay tribute to Her late Majesty the Queen. I want to start by expressing my deepest sympathies to His Majesty the King and the entire royal family, on behalf of my family and the loyal constituents of Wealden. Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II was loved and respected throughout my constituency, from the villages of Withyham and Eridge in the north to the town of Hailsham in the south. She was adored for her duty, loyalty and leadership in the UK, the Commonwealth and across the world.

I want to share the words of a constituent who lives in Fletching. Libby Buchanan is 99 years old and has lived through the reigns of five monarchs, from George V to King Charles III. She said to me how deeply blessed she felt to have lived through the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Sometimes, Libby told me, the changes experienced in the world over the Queen’s reign were bewildering, yet the Queen never changed. She was always there, a constant, gentle and ever-present light. That light has now gone out but, as Libby said, the flame has been relit and is held in the safest possible hands: those of King Charles III. Long live the King.

September 11, 2022