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Lord Carrington: My Lords, so much has been very rightly and properly written and said about the Queen Mother in the past few days that there is very little to add and certainly nothing new. I venture to say only a very few words because, like so many of your Lordships, I was privileged to know Queen Elizabeth and was the recipient of many kindnesses. I would feel both ungracious and ungrateful if I remained silent on this very special occasion.
I remember vividly on one occasion when it was quite clear how she held the fascination of the people of this country. I was travelling in a car behind her when she was going on an engagement in London through the crowded pavements and streets. People on those pavements who, in the nature of things, could not have known her, suddenly recognised the car and its occupant and their whole demeanour changed. They smiled, they laughed and they cheered. That is a remarkable tribute to someone who, in their view, was a very special person.
Dignity and a stern sense of duty, a never failing interest in people and things, warmth, charm and a magical personality, are the surest way to people's hearts. Queen Elizabeth had all those in every measure. How lucky over the years we have all been.
The Earl of Caithness: My Lords, I should like to add my voice to those of other noble Lords, having been very fortunate to have known Her Majesty all my life. In 1952, she bought Borrogill Castle in Caithness, which once had been our family home. Without the careful restoration and the work that she did at Borrogill, it would have become another Caithness ruin. She renamed it the Castle of Mey, which had been its original name. She did an enormous amount for the county of Caithness. Her involvement in local activities, with the artists, with the local games and with people from all walks of life was so appreciated and will be very much missed by those up there.
In 1996, she looked to the future of the Castle of Mey and put it into a trust. I had the honour and privilege of being asked to be one of the trustees. Her Majesty set us quite a challenge—to keep the house as a lived-in house, with that wonderful atmosphere that she created, as well as making public access available at the same time. The trustees are spending quite a lot of money on updating the castle. We hope to be able to fulfil Her Majesty's aims in the not too distant future.
The noble and learned Lord, Lord Williams, mentioned Her Majesty's knowledge of and interest in horse racing. It would be quite wrong to forget that she had a wide and detailed knowledge of her Aberdeen Angus and North Country Cheviot pedigree flocks, which are now the responsibility of the trustees. She knew those bloodlines extremely well. She won championship after championship. It will be a hard act to follow. As someone from Caithness said to me at the weekend, we will not see her like again.
Lord Kingsdown: My Lords, to the great good fortune of the people of my native county of Kent, Her Majesty was Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports and Constable of Dover Castle from 1978, a historic office whose origins, as everyone will know, lay in the need to reorganise the defence of the south-east coast of England against raiders or even invaders from the Continent. Among her predecessors were the first Duke of Wellington, Sir Winston Churchill and Sir Robert Menzies. Her Majesty's war years surely made her a worthy successor in that role.
The official residence of the Lord Warden is Walmer Castle, which is not normally inhabited. But year after year, Her Majesty and her indomitable household moved into the castle in July bringing with them from London everything necessary for life and comfort. I was told that it included a field cooker.
The castle came to life. Her Majesty entertained the mayors and officials of the cinque ports and a wide range of people from East Kent and Sussex. Those receptions and dinner parties were, as may be imagined, marvellous occasions, flowing in a continuous sequence and enlivened by Her Majesty's
charm and enthusiasm and indefatigability. In addition to that entertaining, she fitted in visits in the neighbourhood, all of them a resounding success and much welcomed.Fortunately, there are two potentially lasting things to commemorate those happy years and visits. The first is the garden at Walmer Castle, into the creation of which Queen Elizabeth put much time and thought. The second is to be found on the top of the cliffs between Folkestone and Dover; the Battle of Britain Memorial. That was established under Her Majesty's patronage and is much due to Her Majesty's support and generosity. She attended the opening ceremony and it was very moving to see her walking among and talking to the representatives of the few. They were men in their twenties in 1940—and that gracious lady then just 40 years old herself carrying the responsibility of being with the King, the head of our nation at that critical time.
Her Majesty's example never failed. She was a true Lord Warden of our coastline, of our country and of our people.
Baroness Carnegy of Lour: My Lords, on 5th November 1916 at St John's Episcopal Church in Forfar, the then Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, along with 11 other local young people, was confirmed as a member of the Scottish Episcopal Church. This Easter morning, 86 years later, as we prayed for the Queen Mother and gave thanks for her life, I am sure I was not the only person who was wondering how it was that that 16 year-old came to be the possessor of such star quality talents as her role in life developed.
What was the clue, I wonder, to that person who seemed from the beginning to be entirely at ease with herself; a secure and resolved personality; free to use her talents to the full without inhibitions; and to be her own self, whatever and whoever came along. And what talents they were. We have read about them in the press and we have heard about them today.
I believe that it is not fanciful to suggest that part of the clue to that wondrously free person lay in the fact that she had deep roots in the Angus countryside, in the community of Angus and in the history of Angus. Those security-giving roots were never left behind. Queen Elizabeth maintained and deepened them all her life. She felt, I believe, that she belonged to us. Everyone in our part of the country felt she belonged, too. I was for eight years the elected chancellor for the area called Strathmore and I know that.
By the time Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon took her confirmation vows, she was already putting them into action, helping the war-wounded soldiers at her home at Glamis. It was at Glamis that she become engaged to be married. Her second daughter was born there and named after Margaret, the 11th century Queen of Scotland who, with her husband Malcolm Canmore, had a palace at Forfar.
Princess Margaret's birthday fell in August and at Glamis the Duchess of York gave annual birthday parties for her younger daughter and her sister and for
local children. A wonderful children's theatre was put on by Miss Waddell of Arbroath. Lord Roberts' Workshops in Dundee, where ex-servicemen found employment, were visited annually. The local regiment, the Black Watch, became Her Majesty's regiment. She was its Colonel in Chief. She became the first Chancellor of the University of Dundee when in the late 1960s it separated from St Andrews.When the Glamis Brownies celebrated their 70th birthday, the Queen Mother was at the Glamis Hotel with the founder members, whose Guide Commissioner she had been. She visited her home town of Forfar frequently and was at St John's Church for its centenary celebrations. And so it went on.
The signs are that the Queen Mother's Angus roots were an important part of her wonderful personality. They clearly mattered very much to her and they matter to us. Angus, in its quiet way, is a sad but proud community today.
12.15 p.m.
Lord Eatwell: My Lords, it is as the President of Queens' College, Cambridge, that I rise to add my tribute to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.
In 1948, the governing body of Queens' College invited Queen Elizabeth to become patroness of the college on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the foundation. She graciously accepted. She was our fourth patroness. The first two were the founders of the college; Margaret of Anjou, wife of Henry VI, and Elizabeth Woodville, wife of Edward IV. Our third patroness was Anne Neville, wife of Richard III. But then from the Battle of Bosworth to 1948, Queens' College had no patroness.
Our new patroness more than made up for that hiatus. She visited the college regularly. As an undergraduate, I first met her in Queens' in the summer of 1965. I like to think that she enjoyed her frequent visits—indeed, I am sure she did—but of course it must be remembered that Cambridge is conveniently close to Newmarket.
On the occasion of her 101st birthday, just last August, I had the honour to present the college's birthday present. It consisted of a framed double photograph, two pictures taken from exactly the same position, showing Queen Elizabeth entering the college in June 1948 and then again in June 1998. In the photographs the buildings are, of course, exactly the same. The assembled undergraduates look very different. In the centre of each photograph is the figure of the Queen Mother, radiating warmth and enthusiasm.
During that visit in June 1998, as on all previous occasions, she spent a long time chatting to fellows, students and staff and even to children from the college nursery. At lunch, the lively conversation was peppered with a number of forceful, often indiscreet, observations on topics ranging from modern youth (of whom she greatly approved) to the Royal Ballet. She
was very fond of the company and Sir Frederick Ashton had been a close friend. Throughout the visit, the college was filled by her ever-present sense of fun.
And that is how we will remember her. Queens' College was immensely proud of our patroness. We will miss her very much.
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