Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

Debate between Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall and Baroness Mobarik

Saturday 10th September 2022 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Mobarik (Con)]

My Lords, I offer His Majesty King Charles and the whole of the Royal Family my deepest condolences on the passing of their mother, Her most inspiring Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. As many noble Lords have said, this day was inevitable, but somehow we never expected it to happen. In recent times, knowing of Her Majesty’s ill health, I would assure myself that she would live until at least 110, so it was a tremendous shock to hear the sad news on Thursday evening that Her Majesty had indeed passed away in her beloved home in Scotland.

She was a constant presence. I remember as a little girl seeing this beautiful lady on the television and on the covers of magazines and newspapers, far more glamorous than any movie star and with such grace, elegance and dignity. Later in life, when I had the great honour of meeting Her Majesty—wonderfully, on more than one occasion—her kindness and informality made those moments very special, despite being nerve-wracking at the same time.

It was always clear that her family were uppermost in her mind. In 2006, when I was invited to Buckingham Palace by Her Majesty for an intimate lunch for 12, I remember that when she spoke with me and the other two ladies invited in the drawing room prior to lunch, she immediately told us how upset she was that her lovely granddaughter Zara had fallen from her horse and really hurt herself. It was the heart-warming concern of a grandmother, just like any other. Similarly, on my going to see Her Majesty formally before taking up the position of Government Whip in 2016 along with two other colleagues, she spoke about her uncle Fergus Bowes-Lyon, who had died in the First World War, and how it had taken 100 years until the whereabouts of his body were finally confirmed. There was no attempt to hide the deep sadness, but a willingness to share that common humanity that binds us all and to share those emotions of love, loss and grief.

On the last occasion when I met her, it became apparent to me that here was a person of infinite wisdom and kindness, the sort of wisdom and kindness that are etched on the faces of great spiritual beings. She left an impression on all who met her, even those who had only seen her from afar or on their television screens.

There was the greatest admiration for her from every part of the Commonwealth and beyond. My parents, who came to this country from the Commonwealth, had the greatest respect and affection for Her Majesty. My late father-in-law was strong and successful in his youth, but in his mid-90s, as his memory dimmed, he could not quite remember even the name of his own son. Still, when his son visited him in Pakistan, he said, “Young man, you come from London. There is a lady there, the Queen. She is a wonderful woman.” That was the one outstanding and lasting memory that he had of his time living in Britain.

Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth’s devotion and service to her country and people is a legacy of epic proportions. May she rest in peace, and may King Charles III have a long, happy and illustrious reign.

[Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall (Lab)]

My Lords, I am afraid it is very hard to know where one comes in the pecking order in this debate, so I apologise to anyone who feels that I have stepped ahead of them.

The impact of Her late Majesty’s death has been immense, as we have heard in this debate and beyond. We are all diminished, shocked and thrown off balance by the loss of such a key figure in our life, the life of the nation and indeed the world. Our thoughts are with her family and especially with His Majesty the King, who is assuming his onerous new role at a time of great personal sadness. His first address to us all was profoundly affecting. For me, as he spoke those words from the end of “Hamlet”, in my head I heard the opening chords of another farewell, doubtless familiar to many of your Lordships: the “Angel’s Farewell” from Elgar’s setting of Cardinal Newman’s “The Dream of Gerontius”:

“Softly and gently, dearly-ransomed soul,

In my most loving arms I now enfold thee”.

The King, who I believe has long understood the consoling power of great art, will need our love as well as our allegiance as he takes up his duties.

I was born in the reign of King George VI and, indeed, attended his lying in state in 1952 when I was a very small child. I am not entirely sure why my father thought it appropriate to bring one so young to queue on Westminster Bridge in the February fog, and to be honest I do not remember much about it, but I am glad I have the photograph to prove that I was there.

What I absolutely remember is going over a year later to the pub in our village to watch Her late Majesty’s coronation on television. I had never seen a television before. The screen was tiny and the room was hot and crowded, but none the less the grandeur and magic of the ceremony came through clearly. Although I have watched it many times since, that first impression stays with me of a radiant young woman at the centre of a magnificent piece of theatre embarking on a lifetime of service—and, my word, what a lifetime it turned out to be.

I shall speak very briefly, because much that needed to be said has already been said, mostly by the noble Baroness, Lady Bull, about the Queen’s relationship with the arts, particularly with the theatre, where she was closely involved with the two organisations with which my I spent most of my professional life: the Royal Shakespeare Company, of which she was patron from the granting of its royal charter in 1961 until her death, and the Royal National Theatre, where she was recently succeeded as patron by the Duchess of Cornwall, now Queen Consort. Her Majesty’s patronage was hugely important to those organisations, as indeed it was to the whole cultural sector, which benefited so much from her interest and support.

I was privileged to meet her several times. I was going to share an anecdote, as so many noble Lords have done, but in the interests of brevity I have decided not to. Maybe there will be another time; noble Lords will just have to wait and see. What I wanted to say is that monarchy must be performed, as Shakespeare knew very well. I think Her Majesty was one of the great performers of our age. She famously said, “I have to be seen to be believed.” She knew that convincing performance is never about faking or pretending; it is about embodying truth. Throughout her life she had an unfailing capacity to understand exactly who she needed to be in every different circumstance, from great occasions of state through to taking on, as we have heard referenced so many times, an animatronic bear, and completely upstaging him with quietly impeccable comic timing.

She knew how to scale up and to scale down. She understood the diversity of her audiences and could adapt to their different needs while remaining always essentially herself. This ability was partly a natural gift, certainly, but also, as with all great performers, the result of meticulous preparation and unremitting hard work. As we saw, Her Majesty never stopped working at it right up until the end. She was and will remain an example to us all. May she rest in peace.