Lords Sitting of 25 March 1953

Preamble
The House met at half past two of the clock, The LORD CHANCELLOR on the Woolsack.
Prayers
The Lord Ashbourne—Took the Oath.
BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE
EARL FORTESCUE: My Lords, I am desired to inform your Lordships that it has been agreed to postpone the Defence debate, which was to have taken place to-day, until April 15 and 16, after the Easter Recess.

DEATH OF HER MAJESTY QUEEN MARY
2.37 p.m.
THE LORD PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL (THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURY): My Lords, I rise to move,
"That an humble Address be presented to Her Majesty to express the heartfelt sympathy of this House in the great sorrow which Her Majesty has sustained by the death of Her Majesty Queen Mary and to condole with Her Majesty on this melancholy occasion;
"To assure Her Majesty that we shall ever hold in affectionate and grateful remembrance the love which Queen Mary inspired in all peoples of this land and her devoted service to their welfare, and that we share fully in the universal feeling of sympathy with Her Majesty in her grievous loss."
This is, my Lords, a grievous occasion for all of us. Her Majesty Queen Mary, whom we mourn to-day, had become part of the fabric of our national life. It is difficult to imagine this country without her. Forty-three years have passed since that day in 1910 when, on the death of his father, King George V came to the Throne and Queen Mary became our Queen. Since then, with every year that has passed, the British people have come to know her and to love more and more. Her wisdom, her serenity, her fortitude in adversity, her humour, her
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essential kindliness—these are the true stuff of Kingship. Above all, my Lords, she had an ever-bubbling interest in all the lives of her fellow-countrymen, to whatever part of the community they belonged. It was no mere sense of duty—though no one had a higher sense of duty than she had: it was something more. It came from a genuine zest for life and a love of humanity which never deserted her, even when she was old and ill.
As your Lordships know, her interests were wide and very varied. Her love of works of art—indeed, of all things of beauty—is well known. She had read much and thought much, and her comments on passing events were shrewd and wise, as they were kindly. Her life was not immune from those sorrows that afflict us all in this very imperfect world. A deeply loved husband and three dearly loved sons were taken from her; but she never allowed her personal sorrows to turn her from her public duty. She regarded herself always as the servant of her country and she served it to the end. It was this that gave her so high a place in the hearts of the British people, here and throughout the Commonwealth and Empire. They knew that never in any circumstances would she fall below their highest expectations.
In a world where nothing seemed sure, her standards remained unchanged and unchangeable. She stood for something strong and splendid and infinitely compassionate. To-day, everywhere—in the streets, in the newspapers, in the messages that have poured in from every part of the globe—one senses the universal feeling that with Queen Mary something great and good has gone out of the world. We mourn Her Majesty as a wise and noble Princess and Queen and as an old and tried friend; and we proffer our humble sympathy to Her Majesty The Queen, and to all the Royal Family, in whose sorrow we so profoundly share. My Lords, I beg to move.
Moved, That an humble Address be presented to Her Majesty to express the heartfelt sympathy of this House in the great sorrow which Her Majesty has sustained by the death of Her Majesty Queen Mary and to condole with Her Majesty on this melancholy occasion;
To assure Her Majesty that we shall ever hold in affectionate and grateful

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remembrance the love which Queen Mary inspired in all peoples of this land and her devoted service to their welfare, and that we share fully in the universal feeling of sympathy with Her Majesty in her grievous loss.—(The Marquess of Salisbury.)
2.41 p.m.
EARL JOWITT: My Lords, I feel it difficult to add anything to the eloquent tribute which the noble Marquess the Leader of the House has just paid. I feel sure that he has interpreted the wishes of the whole House in what he has said and in arranging for the suspension of our Business to-day as a mark of respect for the memory of that very gracious lady who has been taken from us.
As we look back over the long spell of her life, which bridges the gulf that separates the old world from the new, the thought that must be uppermost in our minds is that of gratitude for the example Queen Mary has set us. On many occasions she was called upon to bear sorrow and anxiety, but in those sorrows and in those anxieties she was supported and sustained by the love of her people. We are, my Lords, perhaps too ready to take for granted the strength of our Monarchy, which stands to-day in this changing world as secure as at any time in its long history. It is a symbol of that underlying unity which binds together not only the people of this country, notwithstanding all their Party differences, but also all those Realms united in their allegiance to the Throne. It is altogether fitting that at this moment we should realise the immense part which Queen Mary played in achieving this result.
What was the secret of her charm? She possessed a strong devotion to duty; she was always most considerate to the wishes of others; she hated to disappoint anyone; she was entirely natural; she was spontaneously gay; she remained young in outlook, even though the years passed. I remember well a conversation I had with her only some two or three years ago, when I was Lord Chancellor. She mildly rebuked me, when I had expressed some rather old-fashioned view, by saying: "Lord Chancellor, we must all learn to move with the times." My Lords, she did learn
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to move with the times. While she sacrificed nothing of the grace and the dignity of the past, she took a deep interest in the events of the present, and was able to adapt herself to new ideas and new ideals for the future. So we must bid her this formal farewell; but her memory will remain enshrined in the hearts of the people. To our Sovereign we tender our deepest sympathy and respect. We share her sorrow, and with her we voice our thankfulness for the memory of one who over many years, in war and in peace, sustained her people in all their trials.
2.45 p.m.
VISCOUNT SAMUEL: My Lords, noble Lords on these Benches wish to join in affirming the unanimity of the House in addressing Her Majesty the Queen on the death of Queen Mary, so greatly beloved by the nation. I am now the only one in your Lordships' House who was a member of the Cabinet at the time of the death of King Edward VII, when a young King assumed the great responsibilities of the succession, in troubled and dangerous times. For twenty-five years he reigned, with Queen Mary ever at his side. She had great qualities, which have been described by the two noble Lords who have spoken; but I feel sure that her most valuable quality, in her position, was her sagacity, her good judgment. She never pressed her advice, but when asked she gave it; and it always proved to be sound advice. With a lively, well-cultured mind, enjoying strong health, she spent her long life in continuous and varied activities, all to good purpose; above all in maintaining a closely-knit family life as an example to the nation.
We all remember how the two Houses gathered in Westminster Hall to address King George V and Queen Mary on the occasion of their Silver Jubilee, which proved to be only a year before the end of the Reign. We all recall the upsurge of deep feeling among the people, of deep emotion, of affection and gratitude. We were told that King George and Queen Mary were surprised and greatly touched at this: they had not themselves realised how their long years of service had been appreciated as work well done. In that work and in its success Queen Mary took an equal share. The nation knew that; and King George knew it, and often

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spoke of it. We may hope that Queen Mary realised it also. Not long ago, on the occasion of my eightieth birthday, she was kind enough to send me a message with the words: "Remembering the old times." Those who remember the longest, to-day grieve the most.
2.48 p.m.
THE LORD ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY: My Lords, I can but reiterate what has already been so well said, but I should desire to say how very real and deep is the sorrow that has befallen the whole nation by the death of a very beloved Queen. That sorrow binds us in a deep sympathy with Her Majesty the Queen, with the whole Royal Family, and perhaps especially with the Princess Royal and her brothers and with the Earl of Athlone, to whom it must be an added sorrow to be so far away at this moment. Queen Mary had won for herself, and kept to the very end, an unchallenged place in the life, the respect and the devotion of the British people. She impressed herself first, perhaps—as she certainly did, in my younger days, upon me—by that regal bearing and quality, instinctive, natural and gracious, which shone with the pure rays of an unstudied perfection.
Queen Mary impressed herself next, perhaps, upon the admiration and the love of all, by the courage with which she bore blow after blow of personal, domestic and national suffering and sorrow. Under every strain she showed that rare fortitude which, while feeling the full force of every grief, yet never yielded before it, but, triumphing over it with all the resources of a strong Christian courage, won a new grace out of every grief that she endured. And all the time she was winning the hearts of everybody by revealing in herself, shyly yet steadfastly, all those endearing marks of her great and gracious personality; her own distinctive characteristics of ability, of shrewd judgment, of sagacity, of personal tastes and interests, and those much treasured mannerisms of gesture and habit.
So she came to stand among us as a witness—in some ways the last surviving witness, perhaps—in full amplitude, to the happenings and the habits, the persons, the events and the wisdom of the
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Victorian past. Yet at the same time she was always fully abreast of her own times, full of good counsel, and of keen criticism, with a standard of right thinking and behaviour by which others judged themselves, the voice of to-day's, just as much as of yesterday's, good sense. To the young every bit as much as to the old she was a great lady, in every sense and in the fullest sense of that term. So she was to us a rock of steadfastness in this rapidly changing world. Her superb example of integrity, duty, courage, rectitude, and care for others shown in astonishing little acts of kindness and thought to multitudes of people of every kind, fashioned as it all was by a lifetime of strict discipline and devotion and by a keen zest for life and people and things, stone out gloriously in that upright, lovely, commanding and gracious person Whom we loved and k admired. Undaunted, undefeated she was, walking with calmness, power, directness and grace through all the demands of her times and her station. Undaunted still, that brave true spirit passes to Him who was the source of her strength. Life's term was reached; the journey was over. We feel the grief of losing her presence and all she stood for among us. But here, above all, is ground for praise and thanksgiving, from each of us and from the whole nation, for what, through four score years, Queen Mary has contributed to our history by her constant devotion to duty, her fidelity and fortitude, the guardian and the example of all that makes character fine and that makes our people great.
2.54 p.m.
VISCOUNT SIMON: My Lords, as I had the honour of holding Ministerial office in three Reigns, and had some opportunity from time to time of observing how Queen Mary comported herself in all of them, as Queen, then as Queen Mother, and as grandmother, I would ask permission of your Lordships to add a word to express the admiration we all felt for Queen Mary—for that serene dignity and constant concern for the joys and sorrows of others which are among the noblest marks of Royalty. Her kindness and her sympathy, as the most reverend Primate has said, were unbounded. One felt that she could never do anything that was not exactly right.

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Nothing in her long life was more perfectly in tune than the quiet way in which she stepped down from the first place beside the reigning Sovereign to a secondary rÔle where age and experience were always at the affectionate service of the new Heads of her House, while the Royal Prerogative was never infringed.
Like my noble friend Lord Samuel, I think of the Jubilee celebrations of King George V, when I had the honour, as Home Secretary, of accompanying their Majesties in their tour of London. King George showed himself genuinely taken aback to find the extent of his popularity. His Consort, sitting at his side amid the roar of the crowds, knew it well; and, like a good wife, rejoiced at the tribute, so well deserved, to her husband who owed so much to his helpmeet.
My Lords, with Queen Mary's death there has vanished an intimate knowledge of many past events and traditions,
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for her mind was stored with them. But the void may be filled by the memory of an old lady whose loss is deeply felt in many homes, not only because she possessed the best attributes of Queen-liness but because she showed in her life how much it is to be a devoted wife and a wise mother and a really good woman.
On Question, Motion agreed to, nemine dissentiente.
Ordered, That the said Address be presented to Her Majesty by the Lords with White Staves.
THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURY: My Lords, I beg to move that the House do now adjourn.
Moved, That the House do now adjourn.—(The Marquess of Salisbury.)
On Question, Motion agreed to, and House adjourned accordingly, at three o'clock.