Mr President,
Let me begin by thanking you and many of our colleagues here today in this hall for their words of condolence, tribute and support, in these last few difficult days for me and my country.
Mr President, this is a time of national mourning for the United Kingdom. Her late Majesty, Queen Elizabeth the Second was, as I think we all know, a truly remarkable person, and an era has ended.
She was, if I may say, an internationalist before the word became fashionable.
And, throughout her long life of service to her country, the realms and the commonwealth, she visited more than 100 countries and touched the lives of countless people across the globe.
She was indeed my country's greatest diplomat.
And in remembering her this morning, I wanted to quote some words from William Shakespeare from his play Henry the eighth which contains a prophecy by Archbishop Cranmer about the baby princess Elizabeth the first, in which he wrote;
She shall be, to the happiness of England,
An aged princess; many days shall see her.
And yet no day without a deed to crown it.
And indeed our late Majesty worked until the very last day of her life; devoted to the service of her people and her country.
If I may Mr President, I would like to ask you to join me in a minute's silence in memory of her late Majesty, Queen Elizabeth the Second.
[stand]
