BIRTH OF A SON TO HER MAJESTY (Hansard, 12 March 1964)

§ THE MINISTER WITHOUT PORTFOLIO (LORD CARRINGTON)
My Lords, I beg to move: That an humble Address be presented to Her Majesty, to congratulate Her Majesty and His Royal Highness the Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh, on the birth of a Son; and to assure Her Majesty that every addition to Her Majesty's happiness affords the highest satisfaction to the House of Lords. It is my agreeable duty this afternoon to ask your Lordships to agree to send to Her Majesty the humble Address which I have just read to you. In all families there is great joy at the birth of a baby, not only in the immediate family circle but also among the more distant cousins and friends; but there can be no family whose happiness is shared by so many people as that of Her Majesty the Queen and Prince Philip.
Both Her Majesty and the Duke of Edinburgh are known to many millions of people all over the world through the countless tours which both of them have undertaken and because of the photographs, news-reels and television appearances that they have made. Here in Britain, and also in New Britain far away in the Bismarck Archipelago, in the Falkland Islands, Hong Kong, the West Indies, all over the world where English is spoken and, indeed, where it is not, countless millions of people will be sharing in the happiness which the birth of a son has brought to the Queen and Prince Philip.
We, my Lords, as well as congratulating Her Majesty, should also congratulate ourselves that we are fortunate enough to have as Queen and Consort 526 two people who set great store by their family and are obviously happy with them. The baby Prince is warmly welcome and will be assured of the effection and loyalty which your Lordships will always show to Her Majesty and her Family. I beg to move.

§ EARL ALEXANDER OF HILLSBOROUGH
My Lords, I have very great pleasure indeed in rising to associate myself and all the Members of the House who support me with the Motion which has been moved by the noble Lord the Leader of the House, and with the terms in which he has moved it. The reference that he has made to family life is vastly important. In this country, in spite of all the changes that have taken place in the century, family life is still held in very great reverence, and the way in which families of the ordinary people look to the Palace for the news they get of the family of the highest Lady in the land is a proof of that position.
We are very happy indeed to have a constitutional Monarch who is so loved and so popular in this country, and our pleasure extends to the fact that Her Consort, Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh, has endeared himself to the country in other ways as well. He has taken an interest in the general life of the nation, in industry, education, the training of youth, and the like, which has been of very great value—probably in something of the way of the late Prince Consort, Prince Albert, with Queen Victoria. I admire the fact that we have this very great interest in our country from the Prince Consort.
We are very happy indeed to have the news from the medical staff attending Her Majesty in the Palace that both Her Majesty and the baby are doing well. We should like to send her our deep congratulations and our best wishes for the whole of the Family.

LORD REA
My Lords, it is my great pleasure from these Benches to support what has been said by the noble Lord the Leader of the House and the noble Earl the Leader of the Opposition. In the middle of strife and anger in so many parts of the world, in the middle of disputes and cold warfare and hot-tempered antagonism, both at home and abroad, about matters which we all know will dissolve unimportantly in history, we are to-day brought up suddenly by an intimate personal pleasure and delight: another baby—one of hundreds born every day—has come with love into a loving family; and in this country we have another little Royal Prince whom we welcome and who carries with him, as has been said, the benevolence and good will, not only of this nation but of all the world, in his innocence and his day-old entry into human life.
I join gratefully in the congratulations to Her Majesty and to His Royal Highness Prince Philip on this happy and human occasion, because we are glad for them as well as for ourselves; and, like the noble Earl, Lord Alexander of Hillsborough, I add our thankfulness that Her Majesty, as we are told, is in good health.
The Royal Family, in this democratic Monarchy of ours, well earn our admiration and our gratitude for their great public work. In their private lives we rejoice in their pleasure, and we love to realise that they share with us all the intimate delights of perfectly ordinary family life. This little boy, this Royal Prince, is one of us. We sincerely wish him all health and all happiness.

THE LORD ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY
My Lords, there are happenings which strike a universal chord in the minds of our people, and the birth of a Prince two days ago is one of them. We thank God for the happiness which has come to our Queen and to her husband and for the happiness of the family in which the baby Prince will find himself a member as he begins to know his surroundings. At a time when, alas! not all the homes in our land are happy and united, it means much that there is around the Throne of our country a Christian family united and happy, setting to all an example of what 528 the words "home" and "family" most truly mean.
Nor can we help looking ahead as we think of the world in which the newly born Prince will be living. He will still be young, as we measure human life, when a new century begins. May it he a century in which the nations have learnt to be wiser, a century of peace! But, come what may, the children whom our Queen has borne will be setting an example in the happiness of home and in the service of humanity, and our prayers for them will not cease, nor our prayers that the world they will know will be a world wiser and better.