Her Majesty The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee

Baroness Royall of Blaisdon Excerpts

Thursday 15th March 2012 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Royall of Blaisdon]

My Lords, it is an enormous privilege for me from the Benches of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition in your Lordships’ House to support the Motion and add our congratulations to those already offered to Her Majesty the Queen on the occasion of her Diamond Jubilee, the 60th anniversary of her accession to the Throne. The Leader of the House has concentrated on the Queen’s role as head of state, her constitutional role and her role in Parliament, and I concur, of course, with all that he has said.

All those things are central to the monarchy, but equally central is Britain’s relationship with its monarchy and in particular with its Queen. Twenty years ago this year, the Queen had what she herself termed her “annus horribilis”. Twenty years on from that low point, her standing with the people of this country could not be higher.

Republics and republicanism are now dominant around the world, but not here in Britain. Polls show that three-quarters of the British people support the monarch. More than half believe that the Queen is one of Britain’s greatest monarchs. More than half again believe that Britain will still have the monarchy in 50 years’ time. Two-thirds of people across our country believe that in the 60 years of the Queen’s reign the quality of life in Britain has got better.

That support means that, regardless of the political affiliation of the Government in power, the Queen can and does speak for Britain and the British people, as she did so wonderfully last year in her first ever visit to the Republic of Ireland. She is able to carry out that role because she is in touch with all the details of our national life. Every year, the Queen meets tens of thousands of people of this country and touches their lives. Every year, the Queen and her family undertake more than 3,000 engagements across the UK and many others overseas. Every year, the Queen entertains more than 50,000 people at receptions and garden parties. Every year, the Queen gets through a mountain of red boxes, seeing all important government papers, including the minutes of every Cabinet meeting. That has given her a unique and unmatchable perspective on British government, politics and society over a 60-year period—real service, real connection and a real relationship between the Queen and her country.

A constitutional monarchy is one in which the monarch is in name the ruler but does not rule. A constitutional monarch is not the servant of the people but does serve the people, and the Queen’s service, with the loyal and steadfast support of her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, has been extraordinary. We in this House are used to long service, but 60 years on the Throne, 60 years of unstinting and unswerving service, is an astounding achievement. It is one that this House and the whole country recognise, respect and value, and one for which we are all grateful.

Perhaps I may record a personal point. When I was Leader of your Lordships’ House and Lord President of the Council, I was one of the Ministers who was privileged to meet the Queen regularly. Occasionally the meetings took place in Windsor Castle, where she always gave the impression of being at home. She was unfailingly courteous, knowledgeable and professional, and personally kind to me, for which I am particularly grateful. When my noble friend Lord Mandelson took over that particular privilege, I became Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. One of my treasured memories is of hosting a dinner for the Queen and all former Chancellors of the Duchy who were still living, many of whom are in their places today. It was a very jolly occasion with much laughter. A similar dinner had taken place 10 years before and a photograph had been taken to commemorate the occasion. Naturally, the Queen was in the middle of the front row. Sadly, however, apart from the Queen, everyone else in that front row had died in the intervening years—a testament both to our frailty and to the strength of the Queen.

The public’s view of the Queen is clear: the longer she reigns the better. The Queen is already the United Kingdom’s second longest serving monarch and we look forward to September 2015 when she will, we all hope, outdistance even Queen Victoria. Jubilees such as we are about to see this year are a big punctuation mark in our national life. They give the country the opportunity to pause and to reflect and they tend to prove the naysayers wrong. The Silver Jubilee in 1977 was predicted to be a flop; it was instead a huge success. So was the Golden Jubilee in 2002; and the Diamond Jubilee will also be a triumph. Britain will celebrate the Queen’s 60 years on the Throne and celebrate, too, the sense of community and pride in our country which the Diamond Jubilee will foster. Even in times of austerity the jubilee will bring the country together.

We, on these Benches and across the whole House, look forward to that and to Her Majesty’s address next week to both Houses of Parliament. It is wholly appropriate that the Queen should choose for the formal launch of her jubilee celebrations the Parliament of the people. Rightly, the jubilee will lead to many tributes to the Queen and to many conclusions being promulgated about the state of the nation at this moment. For our part, we will stand by the judgment given by the BBC’s Andrew Marr in his book to mark the Diamond Jubilee, in which he says of the Queen,

“With her, and with her kind of monarchy, most of her people are content”.

We are indeed. In fact, we in this House are more than content.