Lord Strathclyde
That an humble Address be presented to Her Majesty to congratulate Her Majesty on the occasion of the Sixtieth Anniversary of Her Accession to the Throne.
The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Lord Strathclyde)
My Lords, I beg to move than an humble Address be presented to Her Majesty the Queen, to congratulate Her Majesty on the 60th anniversary of her accession to the throne, and that the Address be presented by the whole House on Tuesday 20 March in Westminster Hall.
This is a formal occasion for paying tribute to our head of state, but what I know will be evident in our national celebrations is the respect and admiration for the Queen personally felt by so many in this nation. She is not simply owed our respect as head of state, but she inspires our respect as an individual.
The Queen fulfils her role as head of state with grace and with firmness of purpose. At the core of that role is her enduring right to be consulted, to advise and to warn the Government, whether that Government is led by her first Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, or David Cameron, now her 12th Prime Minister.
The Queen has been careful to stand above politics at every turn. We take it for granted that we have no idea what our head of state personally thinks of any of the measures in the Queen’s Speech. Her discretion and impartiality when dealing with the Government are impeccable, and we should pay tribute to them.
The Queen is the fount of authority in this realm. She is the head of the Armed Forces, the judiciary, the Civil Service, the supreme governor of the Church of England. It is she, as monarch and an individual, who holds our state together. As well as that assurance of political independence and neutrality, the Queen provides each of those institutions with a valuable focus for loyalty which endures well beyond the reach of any election campaign. That focus for loyalty has been especially valuable for the Armed Forces in recent years, as they have seen more active service than in previous decades.
The same is true of the union itself. The Queen has been rightly careful not to be an English Queen. Indeed, dare I presume that if the Queen were to have a favourite place, the highlands might be that place? The Queen has regularly visited Northern Ireland throughout her reign—17 times, in fact. We should remember that the Troubles directly touched her family. More happily, she has now paid a welcome and deeply significant state visit to the Republic of Ireland.
The heart of the Queen’s role as head of state is her role in Parliament. It is the monarch who provides the daily authority for our sittings. Without the Mace on the Woolsack, we would not be the House of Lords but a collection of individuals. It is why we bow to the Cloth of Estate behind the Throne and to the Mace as it passes us in procession.
When the Queen is present in person, we have no need of the Mace. Next Tuesday, as the Queen arrives in Westminster Hall, a cloth will gracefully be pulled over the silver gilt of the Mace. Last week, the Queen gave Royal Assent to half a dozen Acts of Parliament—yes, a ceremonial formality, but a public assurance of due process and authority. In a few weeks’ time, the Queen will sit on the Throne in this Parliament Chamber and announce the Government’s new programme of legislation for the 58th time. If anyone has cause to complain about the relentless tide of legislation, it is she.
The scene at State Opening will be readily identifiable, with the Tudor depiction of the same ceremony embossed on one of our Christmas cards last year. That is part of the point. The Queen provides the nation with a reassuring symbol of continuity and stability that many of us value. Political parties and financial markets go up and down; fashions and celebrity wax and wane; but the crowds for royal weddings over the decades and the centuries have been constant.
One of the Queen’s greatest qualities is that she has appeared unchanging while changing very much indeed. The Queen has quite simply kept in touch with our national life throughout her reign. The United Kingdom in 2012 is a world apart from that of 1952, let alone the imperial court in which Her Majesty was raised. It is an achievement of some skill that the Queen remains quite so relevant to our national life and in touch with her subjects. Those of us, and there are a few of us in this House, who are privileged enough to have been Chancellors of the Duchy of Lancaster know from our personal experience the keen interest that the Queen takes in hearing in detail about the Duchy’s affairs, and the pleasure that she gets from it.
The Queen is not simply owed our respect as head of state; she inspires it as an individual. It is a privilege to lead these tributes today, and I am confident that they mark the start of a deservedly happy jubilee. I know that the Lord Speaker will speak eloquently on our behalf next Tuesday. I beg to move this Motion for an humble Address.
The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord McNally)
My Lords, I readily associate myself and the Liberal Democrat Benches with these tributes.
The Leader of the House and the Leader of the Opposition have spoken about the Queen’s role as head of state, her service to this country and the immense changes seen in Britain over the past 60 years. It is not only in Britain that we have seen change. When the Queen came to the Throne she still reigned over an empire. The peaceful transition from colonies to a commonwealth of free nations is a legacy in which she has played no small part. From that spine-tingling dedication of self to service by the young Princess Elizabeth in Africa over 60 years ago, to a message to the Commonwealth earlier this week in Westminster Abbey, the Queen has been the inspiration and the personification of the Commonwealth which, in her words this week in the Abbey, can,
“draw us together, stronger and better than before”.
One aspect of Her Majesty’s work of which everyone is aware is the constant round of making and receiving visits. Anyone who has ever done a school prize-giving knows how much time and effort goes into making the day special for those you are meeting and greeting. The ready smile, the handshake, the interested question look all so easy and yet require care and preparation to ensure that those on the receiving end are left with lifetime memories of “the day I met the Queen”.
There is one passion that the Queen shares with me and millions of others. Anyone who has ever seen a photograph of her at a horserace meeting knows that she loves the horses. Last year, the Sun reported with absolute precision that the Queen was going to bet £10 on Carlton House, her horse in the Derby. How they could be so sure of the fact, one can only speculate.
In 2001, we in this House made the faux pas of holding the State Opening of Parliament in Ascot week. Only the fact that the Irish stagecoach broke the speed limit returning down the Mall allowed Her Majesty to be in Ascot in time for the 2.30. This time there is no such clash, and we know that on 2 June she will be at Epsom for the Jubilee Derby. After last year’s disappointment with Carlton House, which came third, I do not think Her Majesty has a runner this year. For the romantics among us, I suggest Imperial Monarch—but I think my noble friend Lord Sassoon should put the Treasury’s money on Camelot.
As the Leader of the Opposition said, any tribute to the Queen should also be associated with Prince Philip, who has been by her side throughout this period. I also say, as a son of the red rose county, what a pleasure it is that both the Leader of the House and the Leader of the Opposition recall their time as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. My tribute is not only to the Queen but to “the Queen, the Duke of Lancaster”, and I am proud to make it.