Speeches, etc.

Margaret Thatcher

Speech at Sovereign’s Parade

Document type: Speeches, interviews, etc.
Venue: Royal Military College, Sandhurst
Source: Thatcher Archive: ?transcript
Editorial comments: Exact time uncertain.
Importance ranking: Minor
Word count: 648
Themes: Commonwealth (Rhodesia-Zimbabwe), Conservative Party (history), Defence (general), Foreign policy (Africa), Leadership

To be present at the Sovereign's Parade at Sandhurst is to share with you a great day. It's a great day for everyone in the Parade but especially for those who have been Officer Cadets and who are about to depart as Commissioned Officers in Her Majesty's Service for the Armed Forces of overseas countries.

We congratulate you all upon your achievement and we wish you well.

It's a great day, too, for all those responsible for the training of the Academy, for the Officers, for the academic staff, the Warrant Officers and the non-Commissioned Officers, for they are the trustees of the standards of excellence for which Sandhurst is famed. Its reputation is second to none the world over and today's Parade and performance has indeed matched that reputation to the full, and we congratulate you upon it.

It's a great day, too, for the parents and families and friends who take such pride in your achievements and take pleasure in this magnificent ceremonial which plays such an important part in the life of the Academy and the life of the nation. And it is, too, a great day for me because it gives me the chance to pay tribute to our Armed Services for their dedication, discipline and duty for defending the liberty and integrity of the British way of life.

It gives me a chance to say thank you to the service you give alongside our allies, the British Army of the Rhine; the way you discharge your duties in the garrisons of Hong Kong, Belize and the bases in Cyprus; for the unfailing devotion with which you serve in Northern Ireland commanding the admiration of us all.

And now a new chapter has been added to the Service—the wonderful way in which the Army and others like the police carried out their unique task in Rhodesia. I frequently tell our allies only the British could have done it. I believe it and they know it.

Here at Sandhurst you've learned the qualities of leadership which you need to bring to your work. Leadership—a word so difficult to define but easy to recognise. Soon you will have acquired greater experience of what it means in practice, especially in difficult times. It means that when no-one else quite knows what to do next, let alone how to do it, you have to decide and you have to translate your decisions into action. It means that, come what may, you have to keep up the morale of those in your command because if not you, who? It means having more consideration for others than you have for yourself. It means putting yourself right out in front where people can see and know what you stand for, and measure you by your example.

All this requires not only courage but a deep understanding of human nature, its sensitivities and its strengths. But even in a highly technical and scientific professional world the human factor matters above all else. Indeed the greater the power at your command the greater the wisdom needed for its use. [end p1]

Before I came, I looked out some of the writing of perhaps the greatest of my predecessors, Winston Churchill—a leader who not only understood the tactics and technicalities of battle but the heart and soul of a people, who knew the heights to which each person could rise when inspired to do so. At the end of his second book about the last war, when we had somehow won the Battle of Britain but had yet to face the many battles and campaigns ahead, he observed that, because what we in Britain had done, the nations of the world once again believed that, and I quote:

“The good cause would triumph” .

But as he knew only too well, the good cause doesn't triumph just because it's good. The good cause only triumphs through the capacity, the resolve and the deeds of a people. We are the people with that resolve to provide the resources and support for the proper defence of the realm. You are the soldiers who, among others, will be in the forefront in carrying out those deeds and those duties.

May we never fail one another or our Queen, or our country. We give you our congratulations. We wish you good luck and God speed.