§ The LORD PRESIDENT of the COUNCIL (Lord Soames) rose to move, That an humble Address be presented to Her Majesty to convey to Her Majesty the wish of this House to be associated most warmly with the congratulations offered to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother on the occasion of Her 80th Birthday:
§ To assure Her Majesty of the profound affection and esteem that is felt for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother both by this House and by the Nation and the Commonwealth for whom She has so long been an inspiration and to whom She has given such devoted service:
§ To express the heartfelt hope that Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother may long enjoy health and happiness.
§ The noble Lord said: My Lords, I rise to move the first Motion standing in my name on the Order Paper and I shall, with the greatest pleasure, speak to both Motions.
§ When Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon consented—not, I believe, without some persuasion—to leave the freedom of her happy Scottish-based home life and to marry the man she loved, she could not have guessed that the twists and turns of history would combine to make her Queen Consort. When the Duke of York became King the whole fabric and foundation of the Monarchy had been shaken to the core by the constitutional crisis of the Abdication. Many of your Lordships will recall at that time Queen Elizabeth's shining confidence in King 1250 George VI and the constant support she gave to him as the country moved into the dark days of war which were so soon to follow.
§ Together the King and Queen remained embattled with us, sharing the risks, the anxieties, and the tragedies of their subjects. Totally impervious to all suggestions that she and the Princesses should seek safety in some remoter part of the Commonwealth, Queen Elizabeth stayed to cheer and calm and encourage the nation.
§
Perhaps one of the greatest of the many services which Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth has rendered us—and I suspect the one which has personally given her the greatest satisfaction—was the reestablishing at the heart of the country and Commonwealth a Royal yet real family; with mutual affection, simple spontaneous joy in the normal pleasures of life, and a strong sense of duties to which all members of that family are inescapably called, inspired by a firm faith in God; a family life that shone forth as a beacon in a distracted world—
Here firm though all be drifting".
And it was from this stable, enriching and exemplary family life that in her turn, when the time came, our present beloved and admired Queen emerged to bear the burdens of sovereignty.
§ My Lords, none, of course, could have foreseen in the early years of this century the nature and variety of duties which its constant and remorseless change, politically and socially, was to impose on the young Duchess of York. She has undertaken and performed them—whether as Queen Consort, Queen Mother, grandmother or great-grandmother—not only with untiring and selfless devotion, but also with grace, perceptiveness and spontaneity. It is perhaps (if I may put it thus) this evidently natural relish for her task that has done so much to endear Her Majesty to the many thousands of people throughout the globe who have been encompassed by that radiant smile, that lively and unaffected personal interest and sympathy, that ever-twinkling eye.
§ Now, at a time of life when ordinary mortals have long since aspired to take things more easily, the Queen Mother continues to attend numerous public functions; and in private she receives a 1251 constant stream of people from all over the world with whom she has made friends on her many and extensive journeys. As University Chancellor, as Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, as a connoisseur of pictures, as a lover of music and of country pursuits, of the steeplechase and the river bank, she continues to revel in life and to touch it, and us, at so many points.
§
The whole country and Commonwealth is joining in this joyful Birthday celebration, and we in this House, I know, wish to express our fervent thanks to Her Majesty for a lifetime devoted to the service of our country. We wish her, from our hearts, long life and happiness, and we join with millions of others throughout the world in saying:
Happy Birthday, your Majesty,
Happy Birthday to you".
§ Moved, That an humble Address be presented to Her Majesty to convey to Her Majesty the wish of this House to be associated most warmly with the congratulations offered to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother on the occasion of Her 80th Birthday:
§ To assure Her Majesty of the profound affection and esteem that is felt for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother both by this House and by the Nation and the Commonwealth for whom She has so long been an inspiration and to whom She has given such devoted service:
§ To express the heartfelt hope that Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother may long enjoy health and happiness.—(Lord Soames.)
§ Lord PEARTMy Lords, on behalf of Her Majesty's Opposition in the House of Lords I should like to express our sincere and warm congratulations to a great and gracious lady, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother on the occasion of her 80th birthday. Tributes have been paid to her selfless devotion to the people of this country and the Commonwealth; to her great courage in the company of her husband, the late King George VI, in the dark days of the war; to her gaiety, charm and wit; to her stabilising influence on the Monarchy—yet she has emerged as a real person who has entered into the hearts of the British 1252 people. And so, in the words of the Motion, may we wish her a long life and happiness in the years to come.
§ Lord BYERSMy Lords, those of us who have been fortunate enough to meet the Queen Mother on numerous occasions over a long period of public life have been able to identify with no difficulty at all those characteristics which have inspired in all of us the admiration and affection which we feel for her.
The first time, my Lords, that I met her was 46 years ago when, as a boy at Westminster School, I was doing some scene shifting for a charity concert. She was not only introduced to all those of us who took a small part in that activity but she had all the time and all the interest for each person she met. Only a few weeks ago at the unveiling of Field Marshal Montgomery's statue she talked to far more people at the ceremony than she need have done, and again with that deep sense of personal interest she has for everyone she is introduced to.
My outstanding memory of her was of the way she captivated the members of the American delegation who came over here in connection with the American bicentennial and the presentation of Magna Carta. They simply adored her, as indeed we do. I think that the Queen Mother's attributes are best summed up in the remark of a cockney lady who was heard to say: "She is really just like all of us, but much better". My Lords, on behalf of my colleagues on these Benches and myself, I support the Motion.
§ Baroness HYLTON-FOSTERMy Lords, noble Lords sitting on the Cross-Benches are very happy to be associated with the terms of the Motion proposed by the noble Lord the Leader of the House. Cross-Benchers are jealous of their position as independents and they do not normally speak with one voice, but there are always exceptional occasions and I am delighted to say that there is no doubt about their unity today in their devotion to Her Majesty the Queen Mother.
Many Cross-Bench Peers have served overseas in the service of the Crown in the Queen's other realms, in the Commonwealth, independent territories and in foreign countries. They know how im- 1253 portant are the ties forged by the members of the Royal family, and many have vivid memories of the instantaneous response evoked by Her Majesty the Queen Mother on her many visits over the years across the seas. We join in the tributes to the incomparable services of this sparkling Royal lady in the past, in congratulations on her Birthday today, and in the hopes for a future that we pray may continue to be both happy and glorious.
§ The LORD ARCHBISHOP of CANTERBURYMy Lords, from these Benches, I want to add my own warm and heartfelt support to the Motion. All who have paid tribute to Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother in these days have drawn on many different strands in her character, and they have not been short of material. In these sentences I hope that I can give voice to the gratitude felt by all who cherish the Christian and indeed the religious traditions of our society.
No picture of the Queen Mother would be complete without touching on her religious faith, since her life is rooted, as she herself has put it, in Christian truths which do not change in a changing world. In decades where there has been so much to pull us apart as nations and individuals she has set us an example of integrity, and the fact that she so obviously enjoys life has been, and still is, one of the mostpowerful commendations of that example.
As a focus of affection she has also been a source of inspiration and encouragement to countless good causes and to innumerable less fortunate individuals. As her contacts with them have never been merely formal so our thanks to her go far beyond an official gesture. In the end of the day we honour her not for a list of virtues and accomplishments, considerable though that might be, but for the unswerving consistency with which she has fulfilled her particular calling in all the ups and downs of the past eighty years, to the immense benefit of this nation and Commonwealth. We pray for her, and we pray that she will continue to enjoy good health as we shall continue to need what she has to give to us all.
§ On Question, Motion agreed to, nemine dissentiente: the said Address to be 1254 presented to Her Majesty by the Lords with White Staves.
§ Lord SOAMESMy Lords, I beg to move the second Motion standing in my name on the Order Paper.
§ Moved, That a Message be conveyed to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother to offer to Her Majesty the congratulations of this House on the occasion of Her Majesty's 80th Birthday:
§ To assure Her Majesty of the affection and admiration in which Her Majesty is held by this House and the gratitude felt by the Nation and Commonwealth for a lifetime devoted to their service:
§ To wish Her Majesty long life and happiness in the years to come.—(Lord Soames.)
§ On Question, Motion agreed to, nemine dissentiente: the said Message to be conveyed to Her Majesty by the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lord Chancellor, the Lord President of the Council, the Lord Aberdare, the Lord Byers, the Baroness Hylton-Foster, and the Lord Peart.