I rise to pay tribute on behalf of my constituents and myself to our late, great Queen Elizabeth.
The Queen was a comforting constant through our lifetimes. She was indeed a unique beacon of wisdom, grace, kindness and courage at the head of our country and the Commonwealth for seven decades. She was the rock we turned to as a nation, in times of uncertainty and sadness, and when we celebrated occasions of national joy.
Now our great Queen has gone, leaving a void in all our lives. As we mourn, our hearts go out to her family, as they grieve in their profound loss.
The Queen’s was, by any measure, the most extraordinary of lives. She touched the lives of countless other people across the world.
The first time I saw the Queen in person was as an excited 10-year-old, lined-up with others along the Bath Road in Reading during the silver jubilee celebrations, all of us clutching and waving our miniature Union flags as her car sped past. We only got a fleeting glimpse of Her Majesty, but we talked excitedly about the occasion for days afterwards. Such was the reaction she inspired, in world leaders and school children alike.
The first time I got to meet the Queen properly was in 2014, when she came to open formally the magnificently rebuilt Reading train station.
I can tell you, Madam Deputy Speaker, I felt the same schoolboy excitement of 37 years earlier at the prospect of meeting Her Majesty. And this time I got to shake her hand. I will always cherish that moment, and a photograph of that occasion—of the Queen smiling that famous radiant smile—is nestled among photographs of my family in our home. Other Members have already described the trepidation that is felt during the ceremony in which a Member joins the Privy Council and collects the seal of office as a Secretary of State—the worry about kneeling on those pesky footstools! But her Majesty would always be a kind, calming influence, and she had a unique ability to make one feel at ease.
Other Members have already described the trepidation that is felt during the ceremony in which a Member joins the Privy Council and collects the seal of office as a Secretary of State—the worry about kneeling on those pesky footstools. But her Majesty would always be a kind, calming influence, and she had a unique ability to make one feel at ease.
We all know that the Queen and the royal family have championed many causes, and one of those is protecting our environment and planet. The Queen was sadly not able to attend COP26 in person as she had intended, but she was kind enough to share a message with world leaders, acknowledging her pride in the leading role played by Prince Philip, Prince Charles—now our King—and Prince William in encouraging people to protect our precious planet.
Ending her remarks, she said: “I, for one, hope that this conference will be one of those rare occasions where everyone will have the chance to rise above the politics of the moment, and achieve true statesmanship.
“It is the hope of many that the legacy of this summit—written in the history books yet to be printed—will describe you as the leaders who did not pass up the opportunity; and that you answered the call of those future generations.”
That history is still to be written, and I hope and pray that the leaders of today, here in our own country and across the world, will heed the Queen’s wise words.
Now, of course, we have a new monarch, King Charles III, a long-standing leader in the fight against climate change. Through my work over the past few years on the COP26 agenda, I have had the privilege of supporting the work of King Charles’s sustainable markets initiative.
He is a great man, and he will be a great monarch, with the same instinctive understanding of his people and what matters to them as his mother.
God save the King.
