Paul Boateng – 2022 Tribute to HM Queen Elizabeth II

The tribute made by Paul Boateng, Baron Boateng, in the House of Lords on 10 September 2022.

My Lords, having heard the moving contributions of colleagues yesterday—and I think particularly of the contribution of the Leader of the House, my noble friend Lady Smith of Basildon and the noble and learned Lord, Lord Judge—my wife Janet and I very much wanted to go down to Buckingham Palace and, like so many others throughout our land, pay a floral tribute to Her late Majesty. The mood and what was said and the make-up of the crowd outside Buckingham Palace said everything that ever needs to be said about Her late Majesty.

There was a sense of loss and emptiness, and of people somehow feeling that something that was stable, certain and ever-present in their lives was no longer there—something that was of value to them. Then there was also a sense of gratitude for a life well-lived, one of service and dedication to duty, and there was a sense of gratitude to her and to her family, for whom we must feel particularly at this time, in their personal loss. We have lost a sovereign; they have lost a mother, a grandmother and a great-grandmother. But there was also a sense of gratitude for the joyfulness of her reign and for the grace and beauty that she always brought to her duty. As for the make-up of the crowd, it was international—the embodiment of so many nations. I reckon that all the continents of the world were present there, with everyone feeling that she belonged to them. Yes, she was our Queen, but she was actually, genuinely, the Queen of the world.

I thought particularly, in terms of my own life, of Queen and Commonwealth. I was brought up in the Commonwealth. In the course of her long reign, the Queen made two visits to Ghana, in 1961 and 1999. In 1961, I was a little boy in the dust waving a flag on the side of the road; in 1999, I was one of her Ministers. But it is really the 1961 visit to Ghana about which I just want to say a few words. It was a problematic visit in many ways. There were many, including those on all sides in this House, who said that she should not go, that her life would be in danger and that Ghana was not a place that she should go to or be in. She went regardless. She went because the Commonwealth mattered to her, Ghana mattered to her and Britain’s place in the world mattered to her. She knew that not going would be seen as a snub, would undermine the Commonwealth and would be contrary to Britain’s interest.

She displayed that courage, perseverance and determination that was so characteristic of her. It is said—and there is no reason to disbelieve it—that she said to her Prime Minister:

“How silly I should look if I was scared to visit Ghana and then Khrushchev went and had a good reception … I am not a film star. I am the head of the Commonwealth — and I am paid to face any risks that may be involved. Nor do I say this lightly. Do not forget that I have three children.”

That was her courage.

She went, and it was an outstanding success. As it happens, my father was Minister of the Interior and worked with Duncan Sandys, of the other place and of this House, to make sure that it was a success in terms of security, because that was their responsibility. It was a success that she herself had brought about. It was a triumph. That, for me, says it all about her political acuity, her courage and her commitment and dedication to the Commonwealth.

The messages have been flooding in. I am a former chair of the English-Speaking Union and I chair the International Council of the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award Association. We all have several WhatsApp groups these days, and there have been messages from all over the world of appreciation, respect, gratitude and love. She was loved. She was loved here in this House, in the country and around the world.

We bumped into a small group outside Buckingham Palace on that visit yesterday. They were called Christians in Entertainment and happened to be laying flowers at the same time. They had come out because of Her Majesty’s support for charities in the entertainment world and the Royal Variety shows, which we all remember and which she graced on so many occasions. Suddenly, as they were there and laying flowers, they began to pray. They prayed, and all those around us and them joined in that prayer. It was a prayer of gratitude to our God for our late Queen. God bless our late Majesty, and God save the King, as he becomes Head of the Commonwealth, for which she gave all her life’s service.