HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN MOTHER
(Eightieth Birthday)
Mr. Speaker
I have notice of a manuscript amendment from the hon. Member for Bolsover (Mr. Skinner). I am afraid that it is outside the scope of the motion and I cannot accept it.
The Prime Minister (Mrs. Margaret Thatcher)
I beg to move,
That an humble Address be presented to Her Majesty on the eightieth birthday of her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, and to assure Her Majesty of the great pleasure felt by this House on so joyful an occasion.
An eightieth birthday is always a matter for delighted congratulation. In the case of the Queen Mother the people of Britain celebrate with affection and pride the birthday of a person with a very special place in our hearts. She is a Queen who has been strong with the brave, has mourned with the sad and has enchanted everyone by her grace and wit.
It was, indeed, a happy occasion for our Royal House and for Britain when in 1923 the then Duke of York was able to persuade the Lady Elizabeth to be willing to leave her Scottish family home and to accept the restrictions that inevitably attend the life of a Royal consort. Then, it could not have been foreseen that one day she would be asked to carry vastly greater burdens and responsibilities.
Many among us recall vividly the Queen Mother's marvellous support for King George VI and the example that they together gave the nation of courage and selfless devotion to duty during the hard wartime years. To look back into those memories of 40 years ago is to remember the King and Queen working on daily in a London in flames.
Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother loves being with people, cares about everyone that she has met, astonishing and delighting by remembering the names and faces from encounters long past. I doubt whether any future generation will see more changes than those that have taken place during the first 80 years of this century.
Our Royal Family has been able to use to the full the dramatic improvements in travel that have become possible in the past 40 years, and there are few parts of the Commonwealth that the Queen [column 1758]Mother has not visited and loved. Indeed, I believe that I am right in saying that she was the first member of the Royal Family to fly right round the world at a time when such journeys were far from being as easy as they are today. Wherever she has gone, she has shown her genius for making friends and delighting the people.
This great lady—a source of deep, quiet strength, upholding King George through prosperity and adversity—has been, since 1952, an equal source of encouragement as a mother, then a grandmother and now a great-grandmother to our present Sovereign and her family.
In her calm fearlessness and irrepressible inward gaiety, she sets a stamp of golden distinction on all the innumerable functions that she still continues to attend. At a time of life when most people would be expecting to take it a little bit more easily, she has not spared herself in public duties. For her devotion to the service of the Queen's people in this country and elsewhere in the Commonwealth, we owe her our heartfelt thanks and wish her health and happiness for many years to come.