PERSHORE’S MP Harriett Baldwin writes for the Observer….
IT IS with great sadness that I write these words reflecting on the passing of our much-loved Queen Elizabeth II. As I said in my own tribute to her in the House of Commons, we all hoped that she would, like her mother, reach her 100th birthday and reflect on whether to send herself a congratulatory telegram. Her life was an exemplar of public service and 15 Prime Ministers benefitted from her wisdom and experience. My thoughts are with all the Royal Family who are bearing the unbearably heavy burden of grief.
In the same week, we appointed a new Prime Minister and then lost our Queen and there cannot be a better example of our advanced democracy that we are able to smoothly pass on the reigns of power to a new leader and a new Sovereign. It was a week of history as we saw how our unwritten constitution deals with both a change of Prime Minister and a change in our Head of State – peacefully, transparently and in an orderly way. I am truly grateful for this.
It is remarkably British that the Royal Parks spokesperson had to urge people to stop leaving marmalade sandwiches in tribute to Her Majesty. The wonderful Platinum Jubilee and the show-stopping interchange between her and Paddington will live long in all of our memories.
I doubt that anyone will have been un-moved by the Lying in State in Westminster Hall or the State Funeral. The nation and the world came together to pay tribute to our dearly departed Monarch and it is to her lasting tribute that so many world leaders travelled to our capital to pay their respects. The glorious second Elizabethan era is at an end, and we embrace a bright future in the reign of King Charles III. God save the King.
