London, (Parliament Politics Magazine)- I was in the House of Commons on Thursday 8th September 2022 waiting to take part in the debate called to discuss the energy price crisis. The Prime Minister had finished speaking and the leader of the opposition had just started his speech when Nadhim Zahawi pushed his way along the front bench and engaged in a whispered conversation with the PM whose grave expression indicated that the news she had been given was very bad indeed. He then went to the speaker had a few brief words with him again from his reaction it was clear that the news was not good. A note was then passed to labour benches and to Keir Starmer who was still on his feet. I joked with one of my colleagues that Boris Johnston must have launched a Coup De Etat such was the concern flurry of across the two front benches. Then the whispers started that the Queen had died and so started 10 days of mourning across the nation as the population most of whom had never known any other monarch poured out their emotions for someone who has been the figurehead of our country through seventy years of massive social, economic, technological, moral and political change.
People who had never met the Queen were as touched by her passing as those who had much closer acquaintance because she had entered their lives in soi many ways whether through her broadcasts to the nation at times of difficulties, the excitement of a visit to our local area, the majesty of state occasions, the messages to those who had reached significant milestones in their lives or general news coverage of events she was associated with. In some ways she was distant from us because of her royal status yet in other ways she was familiar to us. This dichotomy was summed up to me by one constituent who said “ I know she was the Queen who I never met but now she is dead its like losing your wee granny”.
This outpouring of grief has not been confined to the UK because the Queen was assiduous in the attention she paid to the countries of the Commonwealth and played an important and strategic role in keeping the ties with those countries which could have drifted far from Britain as the gained their independence from colonial rule.
The miles long queue of people to pay their respect in Westminster Hall at the lying in state. The throngs of people who stood by the roadside to see her coffin moved from Edinburgh to London. The floral tributes laid a Buckingham Palace and other locations. The numerous church services and local vigils, are all witness to the impact which Her Majesty had across the nation. Even in parts of my own constituency which are strongly nationalist and usually anti pathetic to British institutions people expressed genuine sorrow at her passing recognising the role she played in helping mend our fractured society.
For unionists she was a source of great reassurance during the dark years of republican terror when we faced not only the murderous activities of the IRA but the even more disturbing perfidious actions and decision of UK governments. The Queen was the cement of the union when ministers at Westminster appeared to be indifferent to NI’s part in it. When the government at Westminster were claiming that Britain had no “selfish strategic or economic interest in NI” and signed the Anglo Irish agreement giving the Irish government a direct say in the affairs of NI or were secretly signing letters of comfort for IRA mass murderers exempting them from prosecution unionists did feel that they were being abandoned. Visits to NI by the Queen gave the confidence that whatever the attitude of transient governments to NI might be, we were part of a state whose ties were stronger than the opportunistic decisions of politicians.
Individuals also took great comfort from her messages to the nation. In my home from I was a child all activity stopped on Christmas day until we had heard the Queen’s speech which addressed the issues the nation had faced and unashamedly pointed the nation to the King of Kings in whom she had placed her trust. She not only spoke of her Christian faith but lived it in her daily life even in a world which became increasingly secular and sceptical during her reign.
We owe her a debt of gratitude for the seventy years in which she selflessly gave her life to serving our country and bringing joy, encouragement and inspiration to tens of millions who often felt and were let down by those they looked up to and depended on to do the right thing by the country. The rarely sung second verse of the national anthem has the words
“may she defend our laws and ever give us cause
To sing with heart and voice
God save the Queen “
Queen Elizabeth II fulfilled this role. As she promised at her coronation she was faithful to the nation and people she was pledged to serve. I was privileged to meet her on three occasions. They will live in my memory as long as I live.
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Sammy Wilson has been the DUP MP for East Antrim since June 2005. He served two terms as Lord Mayor of Belfast and was a member of the NI Assembly for fifteen years
During which he held the posts of Environment Minister and Finance Minister. He was appointed a Privy Counsellor in 2017 and is currently the DUP Chief Whip in the House of Commons.