SIXTY YEARS into her reign, Queen Elizabeth II was in humorous mood yesterday, taking pleasure in her longevity, but making it clear she had no intention of putting aside the labours of office.
Before MPs and peers in Westminster Hall in the Houses of Parliament, the Queen mused that she is but the second sovereign to reach the milestone.
“In an era when the regular, worthy rhythm of life is less eye-catching than doing something extraordinary, I am reassured that I am merely the second sovereign to celebrate a diamond jubilee,” she said.
Many in the crowded hall, which has seen the trials of Thomas More and Charles II, had heard her speak on earlier anniversaries.
“Over such a period, one can observe that the experience of venerable old age can be a mighty guide but not a prerequisite for success in public office. “I am therefore very pleased to be addressing many younger parliamentarians and also those bringing such a wide range of background and experience to your vital, national work.”
In years past such commemorations would have added fuel to the republican debate, but such demands, in the face of the Queen’s personal popularity, are now muted.
Labour MP and historian Tristram Hunt insisted that the concept of monarchy in the modern-age is “irrational” and “arbitrary”, but even so the UK should not become a republic.
“There is a very strong republican and intellectually- sound republican argument, but that doesn’t get much traction, it seems to me, whilst the Queen herself is on the throne,” he said.
Despite its contradictions, he said, the monarchy “in a global age, both the post-imperial and the Commonwealth age” is above “blood and soil”, and offers a unifying force for “people of many races and ethnicities and religion to feel allegiance to a state”.
Not shying from hyperbole, John Bercow, Commons speaker, referred to her as “the kaleidoscope Queen” who has given “60 years of certainty, sacrifice and service.
“If, as Gandhi asserted, the best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others, then Your Majesty must have found herself countless times over the last 60 years,” he told her.
“You have dedicated your life to others. You have moved with the times and allowed the times to move around the rest of society.”
The Queen paid tribute to the role played by her family, particularly Prince Philip who is one “well known for declining compliments of any kind” but who has been “a constant strength and guide”.
She said she had had the “pleasurable duty of treating with 12 prime ministers”, three of whom were there: David Cameron and his two predecessors, Gordon Brown and Tony Blair.
MPs and peers offered a jubilee present, a stained-glass window of 1,500 pieces that will be fitted to face the one erected to honour her father, King George VI. The plain glass in the north window has been there since a previous stained-glass one was damaged by an IRA bomb in 1974.
“Should this beautiful window cause just a little extra colour to shine down upon this ancient place, I should gladly settle for that,” she told her audience.
