Category: Royal Family

Simon Lightwood – 2022 Tribute to HM Queen Elizabeth II

The tribute made by Simon Lightwood, the Labour MP for Wakefield, in the House of Commons on 10 September 2022.

It has been an honour and a privilege to listen to the tributes and anecdotes from Members across the House. I pay tribute, both personally and on behalf of the people of Wakefield, to the service of our remarkable Queen. Her devotion and sacrifice to this nation over her 96 years is an inspiration and guiding light to us all, however long we have been in public life.

It is an immense sorrow, but one that gives me deep personal pride, that I was one of the last Members of Parliament to take an oath of allegiance to Her late Majesty the Queen when I took my seat in June. The Queen visited Wakefield several times. I believe the first time was as Princess Elizabeth in 1945, when she visited Pinderfields Hospital. She returned as Queen on her silver jubilee tour in 1977, and again in 1992 to officially open Wakefield Hospice.

Her efforts to extend the hand of the monarchy to all her subjects across the United Kingdom led to the decision to take the traditional Maundy service out of London, choosing a different part of the country each year. So it was that in 2005, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh visited Wakefield Cathedral to distribute the Maundy money, with people from all over the district lining the streets, desperate to catch a glimpse of her. I was fortunate to be there myself and I remember her shining through the crowds, in her inimitable style, wearing brilliant blue. But it was her unforgettable smile and the characteristic twinkle in her eyes that we will remember most.

She was loved by so many in Wakefield and in our nation for her warmth, her dedication and her unshakeable sense of duty. Over her 70 years on the throne, she reigned over huge social, cultural and political change across the United Kingdom, and indeed the world, but through all that she was a constant steadying presence. She met every moment, crisis and problem with her reassuring presence and calming words, always reflecting the mood of the nation. Her Majesty was, and will always be, our nation’s north star. The example that she set for us all will continue to shine bright in our memories, to guide us and to inspire us towards a better tomorrow.

On behalf of the people of Wakefield, Horbury and Ossett, I thank Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for her love and service to our nation, and our thoughts and prayers are with King Charles III and the royal family. God save the King.

September 11, 2022
Gareth Johnson – 2022 Tribute to HM Queen Elizabeth II

The tribute made by Gareth Johnson, the Conservative MP for Dartford, in the House of Commons on 10 September 2022.

I am particularly grateful to be able to contribute to this debate, particularly as I am the Whip on duty. As you know, Madam Deputy Speaker, the Whip comments on every Member’s contribution to a debate, so I look forward to writing about mine.

I am also pleased to contribute to this debate because I want to convey my Dartford constituents’ gratitude for the service given by Her Majesty. Dartford is heartbroken, as we all are. We all dreaded this day, almost believing that it would never happen, but here we are. It seems so odd to be without the Queen, as we all grew up with Her Majesty. My hon. Friend the Member for Cities of London and Westminster (Nickie Aiken) spoke about the silver jubilee crown, and I was also given one when I was a young boy. It was absolutely huge, and I thought I was rich beyond my wildest dreams because I had this huge coin in my hand. I confess to being disappointed when I found out, some time later, that it was worth only 25p. Nevertheless, the crown was priceless because the Queen gave everything for us. Her whole life was committed to us and our welfare. She was the perfect monarch. She loved her people, and she was in turn loved by the people. Nobody in this Chamber has or will ever have her approval ratings—nobody.

Much will change—we will never again sing “God Save the Queen” in our lifetime, for example—but we are so incredibly fortunate to have a King with a huge sense of duty and who genuinely cares about his people and his country. He is just as much at home walking around a Welsh farm as a London council estate. While we are deeply saddened, we can be optimistic about the future thanks to the legacy that Her Majesty the Queen left to us. God save the King.

September 11, 2022
Helen Hayes – 2022 Tribute to HM Queen Elizabeth II

The tribute made by Helen Hayes, the Labour MP for Dulwich and West Norwood, in the House of Commons on 10 September 2022.

I rise to pay tribute to Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on behalf of my constituents in Dulwich and West Norwood. My sincere condolences go to His Majesty the King, the royal family and all who grieve her loss.

Her late Majesty made a commitment at the age of 21 that she would dedicate her whole life to the service of the British people, and the fulfilment of that promise over more than seven decades is truly extraordinary. Unlike other hon. and right hon. Members, I did not have the privilege of meeting the late Queen personally, but I know that she maintained, as she did with communities across the country, a very strong relationship with our part of south London, most notably with King’s College Hospital.

The late Queen visited King’s College Hospital three times during her reign, first as part of her coronation tour in 1953, just five years after the founding of the NHS. She visited again in 1968 to open the Ruskin wing, and once more in 2003 to open the Golden Jubilee wing, which was a much-needed improvement in facilities at King’s.

The late Queen also visited Brixton as part of her silver jubilee celebrations in 1977. A lovely photograph held by Lambeth archives shows Brixton’s diverse community coming out to welcome her and the Queen smiling and clearly making eye contact with a child in the front row of the crowd.

Most recently, in 2013, the late Queen visited a small but hugely important charity in Brixton. Ebony Horse Club is a riding centre situated in an area with a high level of deprivation. It is brilliant and enables children from all backgrounds to learn to ride, which is a relatively rare experience in any inner-city setting, and to benefit from being around animals and learning equestrian skills. The late Queen’s love of horses is well documented, and I know it was very special to Ebony Horse Club to have her support for its work in making the experiences that delighted her so much—being around horses, caring for them and riding them—available to everyone, irrespective of income or background. The connection continues today, because the Queen Consort is the patron of Ebony Horse Club and recently hosted not only the staff and riders but a number of horses at a reception at Clarence House.

Our country has seen huge changes and great challenges during the 70 years of the late Queen’s reign. It is testament to her character, her humanity and her willingness to reflect and adapt that she was able to be a constant throughout such a long period and through so many changes, especially in her relationship with the Commonwealth. Her late Majesty’s lifetime of service will be remembered with gratitude. May she rest in peace.

September 11, 2022
Daniel Kawczynski – 2022 Tribute to HM Queen Elizabeth II

The tribute made by Daniel Kawczynski, the Conservative MP for Shrewsbury and Atcham, in the House of Commons on 10 September 2022.

I rise on behalf of the people of Shrewsbury and the surrounding Shropshire villages to pay tribute to Her Majesty. When I met Her Majesty at Buckingham Palace, she looked at me and immediately started to tease me—to rib me mercilessly—about the difference in height, she being 5 feet 2 inches and me being 6 feet 9 inches. Of course, that immediately broke the ice. I was so nervous at meeting my sovereign for the first time, and it was so good to have that joke at the start of our interaction. Later on in the evening, she was standing at one end of the room and I was at the other end. In front of everybody, she continued teasing me with a gesture about the difference in height.

The most important thing that happened that evening, however, was that the Queen realised that I was the only Polish-born British Member of Parliament. She started to talk to me about her pride in the contribution of Polish fighter pilots during the second world war. She referenced the fact that the Polish 303 squadron shot down more enemy aircraft in the battle of Britain than any other squadron did, and she paid tribute to the extraordinary contribution of Polish mathematicians and cryptographers in helping to break the enigma code at Bletchley, and to the forces that joined the British Eighth Army in north Africa and at Monte Cassino. Of course, my heart melted.

Being the only Polish-born British Member of Parliament and listening to our sovereign outlining her pride in the Polish contribution, and talking about how her father had outlined to her his pride in it, is something that I will always remember. She reigned so successfully because she used emotional intelligence, and emotional intelligence was her driving force. The communist regime in the country of my birth has been consigned to the ash heap of history because it ruled through fear, intimidation and the secret police. It is gone, whereas Her Majesty’s memory is eternal because of the love and kindness that she showed us all.

September 11, 2022
John Nicolson – 2022 Tribute to HM Queen Elizabeth II

The tribute made by John Nicolson, the SNP MP for Ochil and South Perthshire, in the House of Commons on 10 September 2022.

I keep thinking of that final photo of the Queen, taken only this week as she welcomed the Prime Minister to Balmoral. It is the most poignant of images. She is standing by an open fire with a familiar no-nonsense hairdo, and she is wearing a comfortable kilt. But a closer examination of the familiar figure reveals that she is struggling to lift her head, her right hand looks badly bruised and she is leaning heavily on a stick. I suspect that she must have been feeling tired and sore, but she is wearing make-up and smiling a warm welcome. How brave that was and how dutiful. We look at the photo with affection and respect because it is Queen Elizabeth but also because, for so many of us, her bravery so close to the moment of her passing will remind us of all those we have loved and lost—all the mothers and grandmothers we have known and admired for their quiet, anonymous courage.

Few of us knew the Queen personally, but we all felt somehow that we did, and there are recurring themes as the tributes pour in. She was a woman of great religious faith who did not fear death. She was capable of many quiet acts of sensitivity and compassion away from the public eye. She could be very funny, with a dry wit and a mischievous talent for mimicry, and she did not like folk who were pompous or overly grand—despite, I suspect, too often finding herself surrounded by them. She loved Scotland the most of any country and was at her happiest when driving around in the lashing rain at Balmoral, gently torturing urban Westminster politicians who arrived with city clothes and sometimes starched personalities.

While no one imagined that the Queen was a political radical, those who talked to her privately report that she had moved with the times, whether on climate change, gender equality, LGBT rights or a recent decision to stop wearing fur. Though she was possibly—probably—not a passionate Scottish independence supporter, she seems to have enjoyed warm relations with recent First Ministers, who appear to have been as charmed by her as the most ardent Unionist. She loved, apparently, being called Elizabeth, Queen of Scots—perhaps recognising that the advice to take the title of Elizabeth II all those decades ago was not the most inclusive given to her.

The Queen was among the last of the war-time generation. That gave her a special bond with politicians who had served: Heath and Healey, Callaghan and Jenkins. They were a generation who saw the devastation that war caused in our continent, and were committed to building a new, more united Europe. My much-loved mum, who died recently, was the Queen’s age and a passionate supporter of European integration, because she had known the horror of war and celebrated the peace that our generation perhaps appreciates too little. One of the most moving tributes to the Queen this week, as we all know, has come from the French President. We will miss her, and we will together celebrate her life over the coming days and weeks. May she rest in peace.

September 11, 2022
Nickie Aiken – 2022 Tribute to HM Queen Elizabeth II

The tribute made by Nickie Aiken, the Cities of London and Westminster, in the House of Commons on 10 September 2022.

I am grateful for the opportunity to place on the record, on behalf of my constituents, the huge appreciation that we all share for the life and service of Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. I also place on the record my condolences to His Majesty the King, and to all the royal family, about which much has been said already.

I feel humbled to stand here today as the Member of Parliament for the Cities of London and Westminster, a constituency with such rich links to Her Majesty’s reign—from her birth in Bruton Street in Mayfair to her funeral, which will be held in Westminster Abbey.

The two Cities were the vessel from which Her Majesty ruled, advised and steered our nation. Indeed, the two Cities are home to so many of the physical monuments of her reign. There is Buckingham Palace, of course, which has become the epicentre of the nation’s grief in the past two days. There is the Mall, the national stage for the pomp and ceremony that binds us to our past and our future. It has seen coronation processions, the daily routes of the Queen’s Guard, and the celebrations we saw back in the summer for the Queen’s platinum jubilee.

There are St James’s Palace and Clarence House, where the Queen spent much of her youth and raised her young family before she took the throne in 1952. And of course there are Westminster Abbey and St Paul’s cathedral. The former was so pivotal in her life, from her marriage to her coronation and now, sadly, her funeral. The latter played an integral role in marking her extraordinary reign, especially with the services celebrating her silver, gold and diamond jubilees and, only a few months ago, that celebrating her platinum jubilee, which I was honoured to attend. Last night, of course, the cathedral led the first of many services of thanksgiving to our late Sovereign.

When thinking about the Queen, I think of her role as the Head of State. For me, one of her everlasting legacies will be how she brought together the Commonwealth nations, growing their union from eight countries to 56 collective nations brought together under her stewardship. I often think how unappreciated Her Majesty’s skills in diplomacy were. Just think about what our world looked like at the beginning of her reign, and what it is now. By sheer force of character, she healed a deeply fractured world post empire. She fostered a family of nations that bore no resemblance to the empire of the past and that was instead built on the values of friendship, freedom and peace. Looking at the Cities of London and Westminster, I see the epitome of the Commonwealth’s legacy in both people and values, and we have the late Queen to thank for that. Like everyone else, when we heard the news of the late Queen’s passing, it hit us personally, because she had been such a constant throughout our lives and we have all shared in the celebrations of her life.

One of my first memories of the Queen was the silver jubilee in 1977. As a Brownie, I received the 25p silver coin, and I recall the excitement of receiving that gift. For the diamond jubilee, my own daughter Georgia, then aged eight, was invited to present Her Majesty with a bouquet of flowers when she visited Fortnum and Mason in Piccadilly on the first stop of her jubilee tour.

For me, the Queen had a unique ability to tap into the hearts of every single person, and a lot of that was because of her characteristic sense of humour and sense of fun, which cut through with people of all ages and backgrounds. In fact, I remember sitting on the sofa with my son Harry as we watched the opening of the Olympics in 2012, and the joy on his face at seeing the Queen jump out of a helicopter with James Bond. I think to this day he still believes that it happened. I felt a similar feeling for the new generation of children as we saw her share tea with Paddington Bear this summer. It is comforting to me that she placed such a premium on our future generations—especially now, as we look to the next generation of the Crown in King Charles III. Indeed, I was moved to see the new King and the Queen Consort walk into Buckingham Palace as monarch and Queen for the first time.

As a new chapter in our history begins, the Cities of London and Westminster now prepare for another landmark in the Crown’s passage through history: the funeral of Elizabeth the Great and the coronation of King Charles III in Westminster Abbey. For that, I say God bless the Queen and long live the King.

September 11, 2022
Jessica Morden – 2022 Tribute to HM Queen Elizabeth II

The tribute made by Jessica Morden, the Labour MP for Newport East, in the House of Commons on 10 September 2022.

That so many hon. Members have waited patiently over the past two days to pay our tributes on the passing of Her Majesty the Queen is testament to the real depth of feeling—the sorrow and the love—that we all want to convey on behalf of our constituents at this moment of huge loss. On behalf of all our communities in Newport East, I too wish to honour her memory; to put on the record our deepest condolences on the passing of an extraordinary monarch who faithfully served our country all her long life, and who has just always been there in challenging and ever-changing times; and to send our love to her family as they grieve.

As Princess Elizabeth, Her Majesty’s first official visit outside of London was to Newport, where, at the time, hundreds of men and women were working at the Royal Ordnance factory on Corporation Road, producing munitions for the invasion of occupied Europe. It is fair to say that that generation felt a special kinship with the Queen, not least because of her dedication to support the war effort herself as a serving member of the Auxiliary Territorial Service. That service initiated a lifelong bond with our armed forces community, which, as other Members have said, is clearly something that she took great personal pride in throughout her life. That was much appreciated in Newport East. As Queen, she opened Llanwern steelworks, which still produces world-class steel today. She returned to officially open the Severn bridge and granted Newport city status—all transformative for our part of south-east Wales, and the Queen was at the heart of it.

One constituent summed it up for many, writing that

“the loss of our Queen feels personal for our family”.

That sentiment is echoed by many constituents. For the Morses, who sadly passed on recently, meeting the Queen at a garden party was one of the highlights of their lives. A constituent shared a photo of their daughter Heather presenting a bouquet to the Queen. Maisy, who was presented to the Queen at the opening of the Senedd, felt, as she put it,

“her astounding presence and warmth”.

But whether you had met her or not mattered little: she was a constant presence and an emblem of 70 years of monumental change, love and loss in the lives of millions.

In the Prayers that begin each day in this Chamber, we focus on service above self—something that is easier to say than do. The Queen’s seven decades of public service exemplified that commitment—not the grandeur of her status, not the ceremony that surrounded her, but her embodiment of the values, the integrity, the history and the standards we all seek to live by and to have at the heart of British life. She demonstrated those values every day, yet she was seen not as remote and distant but as personal and human while still unique. Her last service has been to unite the country in mourning her loss. Our task now is to integrate her unifying legacy of service and integrity into all we do. May she rest in peace. God save the King.

September 11, 2022
Matthew Offord – 2022 Tribute to HM Queen Elizabeth II

The tribute made by Matthew Offord, the Conservative MP for Hendon, in the House of Commons on 10 September 2022.

It really is an honour to speak on behalf of my constituents in Hendon. The Queen was no stranger to my constituency, which she visited on more than 12 occasions. In 1945, three Dakota aircraft, bearing Their Majesties the King, the Queen and Princess Elizabeth, and a press entourage, left RAF Hendon for the first royal visit by air, to Northern Ireland. That was followed by a visit by a pregnant Her Majesty to the drapers’ cottages in Mill Hill. She subsequently planted a cedar tree to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the founding of Mill Hill School. She formally opened the RAF museum in Hendon. She opened the Peel Centre at Hendon Police College. She performed a royal review at the Hendon Police College as part of her silver jubilee.

In 1982, as colonel-in-chief of the Royal Engineers, the Queen spent the day at Inglis barracks, visiting the Home Postal Depot, Royal Engineers, and unveiling a commemorative statue called “Letter from Home” to mark the centenary of the British Forces Post Office. In 1985, she opened the Central Public Health Laboratory in Colindale. In 2001, she laid a wreath to inaugurate the Metropolitan Police memorial in the grounds of the Metropolitan Police training establishment in Colindale.

The golden jubilee north London celebration was held at Copthall Stadium, Mill Hill. I was pleased to be one of the newly elected councillors who was able to be there to meet the Queen in person. In 2005, she visited the emergency call centre at Hendon Police College after the tsunami disaster. In 2012, in her final visit, the north London diamond jubilee procession of Her Majesty and the Duke of Edinburgh came through Edgware.

In my constituency, the regard in which Her Majesty is held by ethnic minorities is second to none. As we have already heard today, the people of Hendon hold the Queen in high regard, and it still impresses me that, at the end of every sabbath service, without exception, my constituents in synagogue say a prayer for the Queen and the royal family. They have been saying that prayer since 1952 when Her Majesty ascended to the throne. There have been more than a dozen versions to reflect changes through marriages and deaths, but the one constant in the prayer throughout the last 70 years has been our sovereign lady, Queen Elizabeth.

I have often said that none of us in politics is very important, and it is my belief that there is only one person who is important in politics, and that is the monarch. As we have seen in the last few days, Prime Ministers and Members of Parliament come and go but the monarch remains. Each and every one of us have made sacrifices to be here in this place, but the Queen made even greater sacrifices for over 70 years. That commitment to public service is unimaginable to us.

A friend left a message on her Facebook page that really summed up what I would say to the Queen right now, if I had the opportunity:

“Good night, God bless, and thank you for everything.”

Long live the King.

September 11, 2022
Matt Rodda – 2022 Tribute to HM Queen Elizabeth II

The tribute made by Matt Rodda, the Labour MP for Reading East, in the House of Commons on 10 September 2022.

It is an honour to speak today, and to pay tribute to Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II personally and on behalf of my constituents in Reading East. Queen Elizabeth was our longest serving and arguably greatest ever monarch. She was deeply loved and admired, and we all feel a profound sense of personal sadness and a great loss at this difficult time. Like many of us, I am still trying to take in the events of the last few days. We all knew that this day would come, but part of us somehow felt that the Queen would always be there, because she had been there throughout our lives. She was truly a constant for all of us in a rapidly changing world. Her reign covered a period of unprecedented social and technological change, yet she also linked the modern world to the wartime generation.

The Queen’s life was defined by service. As a young woman, during the war, she made a solemn vow to serve her people as long as she lived.

She kept that promise over more than 70 years as our Queen, during a lifetime dedicated to our country and to the Commonwealth. She led by example in good times and in bad, through her kindness, humility, quiet determination and her dry sense of humour. Her Majesty was both our head of state and the head of the Commonwealth, but we also felt a deep personal connection to her, one which is difficult to put into words. She was a mother, a grandmother and a great-grandmother, and we sometimes felt that she was like a grandmother to all of us in this country and in the Commonwealth.

Locally, there is a deep and abiding love and respect for the late Queen across our community. She visited several times during her long reign, including opening the new Reading station in 2014. I can vividly remember the sheer joy and enthusiasm of children, families and older people at a local platinum jubilee street party that I attended—people of all backgrounds, all faiths and none, celebrating their Queen. It was a more than fitting tribute to Her late Majesty and the Elizabethan age.

May the Queen rest in peace. God save the King.

September 11, 2022
Conor Burns – 2022 Tribute to HM Queen Elizabeth II

The tribute made by Conor Burns, the Conservative MP for Bournemouth West, in the House of Commons on 10 September 2022.

I place on record our gratitude to the Speaker for allowing Ministers to participate in this debate from the Back Benches. From having listened to the many contributions made yesterday and today, it is really striking how many of our constituencies had multiple visits from Her late Majesty the Queen over her seven decades of service. I was in my constituency of Bournemouth West yesterday, talking to local people who remember her last visit to Pier Approach in Bournemouth. She had views about all our constituencies, and so did her late husband. I was introduced to the Duke of Edinburgh in 2013, at a reception at Buckingham Palace. He asked me, “Where are you from?” I said, “Bournemouth, Sir.” He said, “Hmm, Bournemouth. Full of old people.” I said, “Yes, Sir, many of them a good deal younger than you.” For a split second, I thought I had made a serious mistake, but he burst out laughing and called the Queen over to tell her what I had said. She said, “Well, Philip, that isn’t hard, is it?”

Our late Queen embodied our national values. When we go abroad, we find that people recognise the English language, our legal system, and our arts and culture; and because of her long, long reign, they very much identify the United Kingdom of today with the late Queen. I was constantly struck by her reach. In May, in Washington, I attended a RuPaul’s Drag Race British Invasion tour concert, where I met a young person called Josh Cargill. Josh is more commonly known by his stage name, Blu Hydrangea, and he is one of Northern Ireland’s pre-eminent drag queens. My conversation with Josh took a novel turn when he told me of his connection with Her late Majesty the Queen: she opened his primary school, Downshire Primary School in Royal Hillsborough, when he was a pupil there.

I went to Downshire Primary in May to launch the Northern Ireland Office platinum jubilee rug competition. We asked the young people of Northern Ireland to design a rug on the theme, “A postcard from Northern Ireland”, to present to the royal household as a token of the young people’s appreciation for the Queen’s service. It was an enduring sign of the Queen’s role at the forefront of reconciliation; there was also the famous visit to Ireland in 2011, and the many conciliatory gestures she made in Northern Ireland to aid peace and reconciliation. The project was supported by over 2,000 entries from primary schools of every type—Catholic, Protestant and integrated—from every one of Northern Ireland’s six counties. It was a great delight that we were able to finish that project, and the rug designed by the young lady who won the competition, Emily, was made by that great royal warrant-holding, exporting company, Ulster Carpets, in Northern Ireland.

The Queen was one of us. That is why she was held in such deep and enduring affection. Over the four days of the magnificent jubilee weekend, we were able to show Her late Majesty how deeply we cared for her, and how grateful we were for her long service. Our new Prince of Wales has reminded us of his grandmother’s words:

“Grief is the price we pay for love.”

Our country can be very proud of those four days; through them, there is no doubt that Her late Majesty the Queen died secure in the knowledge of our love and affection. Looking back, that was the moment that we brought the Queen close to us one last time, and in a very real sense also let her go. May our wonderful servant and sovereign rest in peace, and may God save the King.

September 11, 2022