THE test of greatness, William Hazlitt once said, is the page of history. What
is written there has been told and celebrated in this great cathedral for many
centuries. It is fitting then that we celebrate here, the 100th birthday of a lady
whose calling and whose life are already inscribed on history's page.
A birthday, a calling, a life.
The world of the early 20th century, into which you, Ma'am, were born as
Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon would be largely unrecognisable to the child of today.
You will be grateful, I imagine, for not having to travel round the country in a
Model A Ford or fly round the world courtesy of the Wright brothers.
Neither will you hanker greatly after the medical
and dental treatment of another age. But the 100
years we celebrate so joyously with your
approaching birthday has hardly been a century
of unbroken advance.
Our capacity to denigrate and destroy has
sometimes threatened to lay waste the good and
the life-giving. Evil dictatorships and terrible
bloodshed have been too much a part of your
lifetime.
It was perhaps during the period between the two World Wars that your
calling began to take shape. First with marriage. The Archbishop of York in
his wedding address in Westminster Abbey spoke words that made a deep
impression on so many who heard them.
"With all our hearts," he said, "we wish that your married life may be a happy
one. But we cannot resolve that it shall be happy. You can and will resolve
that it shall be noble. The warm and generous heart of this people takes you
today into itself.
"Will you not, in response, take that heart, with all its joys and sorrows, into
your own?" And this, Your Majesty, you surely did, with nobility and grace.
You entered into the hearts of the British people and your own heart has been
open to them ever since. It was a bond that gained special strength from two
sources: abdication and the war. You stood with your husband as he was
confronted so unexpectedly with the demands of kingship.
It was, in your own words "an intolerable honour". That he became a greatly
loved sovereign was due in no small measure to your encouragement, fierce
loyalty and constant presence. Together you stood with your people during
the long nightmare of the Second World War.
When Buckingham Palace was badly damaged, you famously declared, "I'm
so glad we've been bombed. It makes me feel I can look the East End in the
face."
As a child of both the East End and the Blitz, allow me to add that your own
face grew still more loved as a result. And throughout those years we were
also aware of the inner strength of the real though wholly unpretentious faith in
God that you and the King shared.
A Christian faith which has continued to sustain you through the mingled joy
and sadness, which are the lot of all families, royal and humble alike. Surely, it
is no accident that in families across this land, you are known simply as our
"Queen Mum".
And faith has also suffused your strong sense of duty and your unfailing
commitment to service. Both are reflected in a generosity of spirit and deep
concern for others. I well recall the very first time I escorted you into a state
banquet at Buckingham Palace.
As we entered, I realised with some alarm that I hadn't looked at the seating
plan. I had no idea where to escort you! Incredibly, almost as though reading
my thoughts, you said: "As a concession to my age, my chair is the one with
arms!"
For that, as for much else - including the recent loan of your wine glass -
thank you Ma'am! A birthday, a calling, a life. And a long life, still lived to the
full and still shared with so many.
Honouring the experience of age is not something our society finds easy.
Instead the icons we tend to venerate focus on the cult of youth and physical
prowess.
As a result, the gifts of age are often set aside and disregarded: the wisdom
and discernment of long perspectives and strong foundations; the humour and
tolerance, patience and courage matured down the years.
But these are gifts we are proud to honour here today. Not by your presence
alone, but also by the presence of several others who are celebrating their
100th birthday this year. To them also we say "Thank you".
But we do not simply honour age; we may also profit from it. The French
philosopher, Joubert, once said: "Life is a country that the old have seen and
lived in.
"Those who have to travel through it can only learn the way from them." So,
at a time when such a premium is placed on the young and the new, it is
glorious indeed to be celebrating the birthday of someone who can help us
travel that country called "Life". And someone, indeed, who so fully continues
to inhabit it.
For we cherish in you, Ma'am, a continuing openness and responsiveness to
people, not just of all backgrounds but of all ages. For none of us - young or
old - has a monopoly on virtue or wisdom.
St Paul makes that very clear in the reading we heard from his Letter to the
Philippians - it is for each of us to seek out and to think on whatsoever is true,
honest, just, pure, lovely and of good report. Today, Ma'am, our celebration
of your birthday, your calling and your life help us as a nation to do that.
We give thanks for your public service and devotion to duty, sustained by
faith in God's love for us all and summed up in those words of Robert
Browning:
gy drives off without paying £40
petrol bill(Electronic Telegraph)
By Sally Pook
TIGGY PETTIFER, the former royal nanny, was said to be highly
embarrassed yesterday after it emerged that she had forgotten to pay for
petrol at a motorway service station while driving to London with Prince
Harry.
After they had pulled into the Membury services on the M4 near Swindon,
Wiltshire, the Prince bought some sweets, which were paid for by a
bodyguard, while a second bodyguard filled up one of the two vehicles.
Mrs Pettifer - who is well-known at the motorway services close to
Highgrove, Prince Charles's Gloucestershire home - also went into the station
to chat to staff. But the party then drove away without paying the £39.86 bill.
A Buckingham Palace spokesman said: "It was a complete misunderstanding.
Each party thought the other was paying for the petrol. The staff at the station
know Tiggy terribly well and thought that they would simply retrieve the
money next time she came in. She didn't realise that it had happened until we
let her know. She is pretty embarrassed."
Mrs Pettifer, 34, telephoned the BP garage to apologise and say how upset
she was over the incident on Monday night. She has since sent a cheque to
cover the cost of the petrol. Richard Pennycook, chief executive of Welcome
Break, the service station operator, said: "Normally staff would have taken
the car number plate and contacted police.
In this case, Tiggy is well-known there and staff recognised Prince Harry."
David Haskell, the station manager, said: "There must have been a mix-up
somewhere along the line. Tiggy is a regular customer here. She is always
lovely and friendly with the staff."
~*~
Charmed life casts spell over St
Paul's (UK Times)
BY ALAN HAMILTON
THOSE of us seated in the nave
could see only a chairback
wearing a hat whose colour,
hotly debated as either dark
peach or burnt orange, exactly
matched the lampshades in the
choir.
Four times during the service,
the hat rose a few inches to
reveal a neck and the top of a
matching dress. Queen
Elizabeth the Queen Mother
was standing but St Paul's is too
vast to be kind to the small.
Yet all 2,300 pairs of eyes in
Wren's cavern were riveted on
that spot centre-stage in the
crossing, immediately below the
dome. They were conscious of being present at a small
footnote to history: there has never before been a service
of thanksgiving for a living royal reaching 100.
But would the Queen Mother make her seat? She did,
entering by the nearest side door, walking slowly with two
sticks, accompanied by the Prince of Wales and Princes
William and Harry, and stopping to talk to a group of 15
fellow centenarians from around Britain.
Seated in the front pews were almost the entire Royal
Family. Across sat a motley collection of European
crowned heads. The Queen Mother may have reflected
that, soon after her marriage in 1923, she attended the
wedding of the Crown Prince of Serbia. Of the more than
100 European royals who were at the nuptials, she is the
only survivor.
At a respectful distance in a side aisle sat Tony Blair and a
clutch of the Cabinet. It was not a political occasion: they
were joined by William Hague, Charles Kennedy and
Madam Speaker, owner of the most recognisable head of
hair in any congregation.
The rest of the cathedral was filled by the surviving Bowes
Lyons, including the Earl of Strathmore, family, friends,
staff and representatives of some of the 300 organisations
of which the Queen Mother has been, or remains, a
patron.
The choice of hymns, anthems and prayers, all favourites
of the Queen Mother, would have sat happily on any
Sunday in any English parish church, give or take an
ecumenical nod or two, with the Roman Catholic
Archbishop of Westminster and the Moderator of the
General Assembly of the Church of Scotland shouldering
their share of readings and prayers.
And not every Sunday service has Dr George Carey to
preach. The Archbishop of Canterbury gave a ten-minute
address praising the virtues of age. He raised the entire
congregation to laughter when he thanked the Queen
Mother for the loan of her wine glass - a reference to ten
seconds of pure pantomime, caught on live television, at a
Guildhall lunch two weeks ago when he picked up her
glass by mistake.
The Queen Mother managed to stand without apparent
difficulty for each hymn, although on one occasion her
daughter turned and whispered in her ear, solicitously it
must be assumed, to ensure that she was coping. She
was, although it was a pity that her rumpled stockings had
not been more securely anchored.
Her greatest test was yet to come. As the strains of the
national anthem faded and the Band of the Coldstream
Guards struck up a toccata followed by Sir William
Walton's Spitfire March, the Queen Mother, aided by
two sticks and the Prince of Wales, walked the immense
length of the nave to the Great West Door, where she
emerged before a crowd of several thousand cramming
the pavements of Ludgate Hill, and gave them a wave.
Halfway down she stopped for pictures: she has rarely, in
almost 80 years of public life, missed a photo opportunity.
The bells of St Paul's pealed and the crowd offered a
polite round of applause, yet, given the rarity of the
occasion, were strangely subdued.
The Queen Mother gave another wave before stepping
into her car. The rain held off just long enough. Two
minutes after her departure the umbrellas went up. Such
perfect timing, as ever: it has been a long life, and a
charmed one.
~*~
Tributes from all sides to the Queen
Mother(UK Times)
BY MELISSA KITE, PARLIAMENTARY REPORTER
TONY BLAIR described the Royal Family as Britain's
rock of stability yesterday as he led warm, cross party
tributes to the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.
Launching a congratulatory motion to mark her 100th
birthday, the Prime Minister said that the Queen Mother
encapsulated the age old values of loyalty, duty and
constancy. She had sustained the nation's morale during
the blitz and continued to be a source of inspiration.
"The Queen Mother has been witness to and played a
prominent role in 100 years of change," Mr Blair said.
"Amid that change, faster in our world today than at any
time in our history, she and the monarchy have acted as a
rock of stability and strength to our nation.
"Her Majesty remains at the centre of the Royal Family's
life and work, important to every generation - and as a
mother, grandmother and great grandmother, bringing
stability and continuity to our monarchy." Mr Blair said
that the Queen Mother was "sealed in our nation's hearts"
and was a source of inspiration at home and abroad.
He suggested that the secret of her longevity lay in her
genuine and unaffected interest in people and her zest for
life. She had moved with the times but had consistently
displayed "the age old values of loyalty, duty and
constancy.
"We wish her health and happiness and we offer, from this
House, our heartfelt greetings and gratitude at this very
special time."
William Hague hailed a "remarkable lady" and said the
Queen Mother's birthday celebration was an occasion to
unite the whole nation. "I believe that we are reflecting the
sentiments of millions of people throughout the UK, who
hold this truly remarkable lady in the highest possible
affection." Her dedication to her family and country had
come to symbolise the sacrifices people had made during
the war, the Tory leader said.
"Since the war and the death of the King in 1952, she has
devoted herself tirelessly and selflessly to public duty,
carrying out over 40 official visits abroad and serving as
patron and president of over 350 organisations."
Charles Kennedy, the Liberal Democrat leader, said
that the Queen Mother's unique and remarkable life was,
in many ways, the story of the 20th century. "She is an
inspiration and a beacon."
David Trimble, the Ulster Unionist leader, said the vast
majority of people in Northern Ireland would also want to
congratulate the Queen Mother and were grateful for the
many visits she had made to the Province. While there
were "a few curmudgeonly people who pretend to hold
anti-monarchist views", most people recognised her huge
achievements, he said.
Rev Ian Paisley, leader of the Democratic Unionist
Party, described the Queen Mother as a first in her own
right. He recalled how, on a visit to his North Antrim
constituency, "she said to me, 'I'm not in a hurry, time is
not my dictator, I want to meet people'".
To laughter from MPs, he added: "I would like to agree,
and I don't often agree with the Archbishop of
Canterbury, but I do agree with what he said today about
the Queen Mother, and I can even say an Amen to that."
John Swinney (SNP, Tayside North) speaking on behalf
of the Scottish Nationalists and Plaid Cmyru, also paid
warm tribute, saying: "We wish Her Majesty health and
happiness at this proud moment in her long life." The
motion was approved by the Commons without a vote.