Queen Elizabeth II: MPs share funny and moving memories of Queenon September 9, 2022 at 4:29 pm

Politicians from both Houses of Parliament have gathered to mark the death of Queen Elizabeth II and share their memories of the late monarch.

Prime Minister Liz Truss described the Queen as one of the world’s greatest-ever leaders, as she opened two days of special tributes in Parliament.

MPs and ex-PMs paid their respects in personal speeches that aroused both tears and laughter in emotional scenes.

A minute’s silence was held to remember the Queen after 70 years on the throne.

Both Houses of Parliament are sitting on Friday and Saturday to allow politicians to pay tribute to the Queen, following her death on Thursday.

Friday’s proceedings in Parliament will pause at about 18:00 for MPs and peers to watch the new king, Charles III, deliver a televised address to the nation, his first as monarch.

King Charles III was greeted by crowds singing “God Save the King” outside Buckingham Palace, where he has held his first in-person audience with Ms Truss ahead of his speech to the nation.

On Saturday evening, Parliament will be postponed until after 21 September, during a period of national mourning.

MPs and peers from all sides, dressed in dark clothing to mark the occasion, have been paying to tribute to the Queen by sharing memories of their own encounters with her.

There have been many anecdotes about the Queen’s wisdom, sense of humour and ability to put people at their ease.

Some MPs laughed uproariously as former Prime Minister Theresa May recalled how mortified she was when the Queen caught her returning a dropped piece of cheese to a plate, as she helped prepare a picnic at Balmoral.

“I looked at her. She looked at me. And she just smiled. And the cheese remained on the table.”

But the session began in solemn fashion, as Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle invited a packed Commons chamber to rise and observe a minute’s silence.

As the silence ended, Sir Lindsay described the Queen as a “devoted monarch” who had seen 57 complete sessions of Parliament during her reign in a brief speech.

Ms Truss, who was appointed prime minister by the Queen just three days ago at Balmoral, paid tribute to her “sheer humanity”, which she said had made her “loved and admired” all over the world.

She said her reign had been “dignified but not distant” and credited her with re-inventing the British monarchy for the modern age.

The Queen’s successor, her eldest son King Charles III, now carried the “awesome responsibility” of the British crown, added the prime minister.

“The crown endures. Our nation endures. And in that spirit, I say God save the King.”

Cheers of approval erupted from MPs, with some shouting “God save the King” from the side gallery in the moments after Ms Truss’s speech concluded.

Next to speak was the leader of the Opposition, Labour MP Sir Keir Starmer, who reflected on the tumultuous political events of recent times and the extraordinary national change heralded by the Queen’s death.

“When everything is spinning, a nation requires a still point, when times are difficult, it requires comfort, and when direction is hard to find, it requires leadership,” Sir Keir said.

“The loss of our Queen robs this country of its stillest point, its greatest comfort, at precisely the time we need those things most.”

He said the Queen had enjoyed a “personal relationship with us all”, based on “total commitment” to duty and a “deep devotion to the country, the Commonwealth, and the people she loved”.

Boris Johnson – who offered the Queen his resignation as prime minister at Balmoral on Tuesday – reflected on that meeting, saying the late monarch “was as radiant and as knowledgeable and as fascinated by politics as ever I can remember”.

Praising the late monarch as “Elizabeth the Great”, he recalled her “humility” and, like other former leaders, spoke of informal gatherings with the Royal Family, at Balmoral.

“Unlike us politicians, with our outriders and our armour-plated convoys, I can tell you as a direct eye witness that she drove herself in her own car with no detectives and no bodyguard, bouncing at alarming speed over the Scottish landscape to the total amazement of the ramblers and the tourists we encountered.”

Mrs May described her weekly prime ministerial meetings with the Queen as “a conversation with a woman of experience and knowledge and immense wisdom”.

“They were also the one meeting I went to, which I knew it would not be briefed out to the media,” Mrs May said, to laugher from MPs.

SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford used his speech to draw attention to the Queen’s well-known affection for Scotland, where she spent her finals days at Balmoral Castle.

“The relationship between Scotland and the Queen was one of shared admiration,” Mr Blackford said.

“Indeed, whilst she was everyone’s Queen, for many in Scotland, she was Elizabeth, Queen of Scots.”

Former Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said she was one of the few MPs to remember the Queen’s coronation in 1953.

The veteran Labour MP shared fond memories of the Queen’s sense of fun, and choked back tears as she hailed “a remarkable person, a remarkable monarch”.

Meanwhile in the Lords, the newly appointed leader of Parliament’s upper house, Lord True, led tributes to the Queen, calling her an “anchor of stability in a changing world”.

Ending his moving tribute, Lord True looked poignantly at the sovereign’s throne, where the Queen had sat for numerous state openings of Parliament, and said: “Thank you, Ma’am. May you ever rest in peace as you will ever rest in our hearts.”

His words were followed by those of Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, who spoke of the Queen’s “profound sense of being called by God” and her dry sense of humour.

And former Labour cabinet minister Lord Blunkett recalled how the Queen came to his aid after he ended up facing the wrong way as he knelt during a royal audience.

The blind peer said the Queen, in a “careful and never patronising way” managed to “gently – by touching my arm – shift me round”.