A Life of Dedication and Public Service:-
All those years of wisdom and compassion we’ve been so so lucky her work ethic her strong faith her leadership there wasn’t anything imagined he couldn’t do there was a courtesy and a humanity and a kindness that i’ll remember forever it was a life of public service and duty committed her country my lords and members of the house of commons i pray that the blessing of almighty god may rest upon your councils and her commonwealth i feel enormously proud of what the commonwealth has achieved and all of it within my lifetime devoted wife and mother a constant figure of national pride as the world around her witnessed extraordinary change.
Early Years and Unexpected Path to the Throne:-
Born in 1926 princess elizabeth wasn’t expected to be queen home videos show it was a happy childhood in those days it was such wonderfully unorganized fun because i mean we played a game called catching happy days which involved rolling around the garden at great speed catching the leaves as they fell off the trees that kept us happy all day her destiny changed with the death of her grandfather and the abdication of her uncle her father was now king and elizabeth his heir her role for life was set and her approach to it shaped by the second world war clear even in her first broadcast when she was evacuated to windsor my sister margaret rose and i feel so much for you as we know from experience what it means to be away from those we love most of all the keep calm carry on philosophy was absolutely embedded in in her i think the princess became a member of the ats she joined the auxiliary territorial service as others went off to fight lieutenant mountbatten seems bad to be back at work again wartime also sparked the most important relationship of her life.
A Wartime Princess:-
She kept in touch with prince philip by writing letters and in 1947 they got engaged a glamorous young couple their wedding was celebrated across the country soon prince charles was born followed by princess anne they’re taking the places of the king and queen who would have gone but for his majesty’s owners but judy called her father was ill and they had to take his place on a tour of the commonwealth to the stunned heart of london and to the whole commonwealth came the tragic news from sandringham of the passing of a beloved sovereign king george.
Becoming Queen:-
In a remote lodge in kenya prince philip told her the news she was now queen all accounts say that she gulped gathered herself a grieving daughter but also now the queen in a way that she could never have imagined and of course in her early 20s at the time the following year came her coronation broadcast for the first time on television she was very conscious of the fact that she needed to be out there to be visible going right back to televising the coronation only 26 queen elizabeth still had to prove herself to courtier’s politicians and the country years later she described how it felt in a way i didn’t have an apprenticeship my father died much too young it was all a very sudden kind of taking on and making the best job.
Connecting with the Public:-
You can from the very start she felt she had to get out and connect with the public the queen and duke now took their places through thousands of engagements and inventing the walk bout whether you were the lollipop lady or you know you were a president or a prime minister of a nation people become nervous and it was wonderful .
The Queen and Her Prime Ministers:-
To see how her majesty would put them at eat always calm even when blanks were fired at trooping the color the queen was constantly on duty with constitutional responsibilities and weekly audiences with her prime ministers for someone who just who’d been a little boy in the streets of durham waving your flag when she drove through in the 1960s and suddenly they were your prime minister virtually alone of all the people that you knew you knew anything that you said to us stayed within the room always displaying her support for the military the principle of listening .
Head of the Commonwealth and Global Figure:-
To what she thought churchill might have done in similar conditions or circumstances to what i found myself in it was those sort of conversations that i learned a huge amount from and we’ll treasure forever there’s really nice comments including one from president biden oh that’s very kind as every day there were red boxes full of state papers to deal with do we think that this is a good idea do we not know what it’s about she was a wonderful boss we used to put up a red box every evening and we knew that she would have been through them and it would be back on our desk the next morning at eight o’clock it was extraordinary how she did this day after day throughout her reign wasn’t just matters at home as head of the commonwealth and queen of other realms she traveled more than any other head of state i remember going to uganda for the commonwealth heads of government conference and from the airport to the hotel i don’t think i’ve ever seen crowds like it always conducting her own powerful form of soft diplomacy i did get a sense how concerned she was sometimes about some of the conflicts some of the challenges she can have a personal conversation.
Which you know helps to move on some really quite difficult and tricky political moments they melt around her and i’ve seen the strongest men just literally sort of become putty in their fingers they are all an aura fan argus the first british monarch to visit the republic of ireland in a hundred years .
Resilience During National Crises:-
She was a figurehead of unity and stability she never wavered from duty or service and in uncertain times people need anchors we’ve lost one of our most important anchors i’m very glad to be able to join you today there at times of national tragedy including the coronavirus pandemic adapting the way she worked to reach out set an example and rally the nation with messages of resilience we should take comfort that while we may have more still to endure better days will return we will be with our friends again we will be with our families again.
We will meet again majesty is the warrior queen she has done it she’s been there and her majesty dressed the nation it’s the empathy we’re all in this together but it’s going to be okay my grandfather broadcast the first of these christmas messages her christmas broadcast every year was her chance to send a personal message it’s no surprise that families so often treasure their christmas routines because behind the formality was an utterly devoted wife and mother prince andrew five last february probably feels quite senior now that he has a baby brother family is very close together and and we do enjoy spending time and she’s always made time all the way through her life and and yes there have been those particular moments of the year when that very much comes first when we were very young obviously um it was uh it was harder for her to have so much time and we were obviously living elsewhere as well.
So we were never really all together in the same place but whenever we had the family moments and we met up she’d be very keen on watching what the children were up to and i think there were moments when she loved the noise running around the house it kind of brought the house to life and it kind of made the real family atmosphere i think they had to be strong enough you see this is strong enough to get off you know while she was head of state phillip was head of the family and a huge support come around this side nasty feelings they were a couple with a different relationship than many people have but he learnt to live with that and difficult to be a monarch with the degree of responsibility you have without a very good partnership to back you up when there were tough moments if he was around it was hugely important you could see them working a crowd or working a walkabout.
Difficult Times in the 1990s:-
If you watch it they’ll stop you it wasn’t planned it was instinct they both had the same metabolic clock i think in 2021 she said goodbye to her beloved husband and dedicated consort we have been inspired by his unwavering loyalty to our queen what you see is courage but also a complete lack of self-pity she feels grief but as she said on one occasion it’s not about me in a less deferential world they did weather more difficult times especially in the 1990s as her children got divorced and a fire wrecked windsor castle in the words of one of my more sympathetic correspondence it has turned out to be an anus horribilis in 1997 princess diana died in a car crash it was a low point for the royal family.
The crowds criticized them for staying in scotland the queen eventually decided to speak i admired and respected her for her energy and commitment to others and especially for her devotion to her two boys the queen’s life has been a continual process of evaluation reevaluation shaping how you keep him in touch with a world that’s changing very fast .
Private Life and Hobbies:-
But she was always doing that in recent years the queen led the monarchy through more turmoil with the sussexes leaving and prince andrew facing sex abuse allegations she rarely showed emotion in public privately she was known for her genuine warmth and kindness one of my predecessors said you never come out of your morning session with the queen feeling worse than when you went in she was always worried about you and how you were fighting people yeah we were up shooting.
One day up in balmoral and the weather changed in the afternoon so i took my raincoat i wrapped it around i gave him my scarf and my gloves and and as i walked away i cheekily took my flat shooting hat off and put it on top of a head scarf three weeks later she called me into her office and she’d had this photograph developed and put in a beautiful frame for me and she said i thought you’d like to keep this as a souvenir of that very funny afternoon we had up in the hills of scotland just one poor she was never happier than when she was with her dogs and watching her horses she does relax with racing poke yes definitely the queen.
When she gets the racing you can see the shoulders drop you can see it ah somebody i know somebody i’ve got something common with and she does maybe spend a little bit longer with them i do remember that suddenly there was a huge fight going on amongst a number of corgis she waded in and she got bitten in the process but she sorted it out just sometimes we would see a glimpse of her sense of humor.
Celebrating Milestones and Longevity:-
What you wish for really please boom as she shared the screen with some of britain’s other biggest stars james bond at the 2012 olympics the two figures disappeared out of the helicopter harry in complete incredulity just shouted out go granny and paddington bear for her platinum jubilee i always keep on for emergencies.
A Lasting Legacy:-
So do i keep mine in here for later thank you cool everything that’s very kind as the queen grew older the whole country would come together to celebrate her milestone moments she would go on to become britain’s longest reigning monarch inevitably a long life can pass by many milestones my own is no exception and the first to mark a platinum jubilee a family increasingly expected to step in to support her the queen’s remarkable reign and the stability it brought helping to secure the future of the monarchy as her family continued to grow throughout her life honoring to the end the pledge she made at just 21.