Today we give thanks to the Queen for her sterling service to our nation for more than 70 years as monarch. Over those years she has gently nudged change in the way the monarchy and court work and how they reach out to the public they serve. She has reigned from days ofĀ food rationing and bomb sites after the World War to the days of the digital revolution when so many enjoy a mobile phone and many appliances in their homes that were beyond the imagination or the pockets of the many 70 years ago. She has seen us move on from open coal fires to central heating, from very few going on to A levels and degrees to a much more widely educated society and from most walking or going by bus to many having a family car and a foreign holiday.
The Queen throughout has been the UK’s first diplomat. At times her state visits and Commonwealth interventions have made an important contribution to peace and greater world harmony. Her early reaching out to Nelson Mandela led to him riding in a state coach with her in London and a very successful state visit to South Africa. Her officialĀ visit to the Republic of Ireland after the troubles was well received by all sides and helped the peace process. Her warmth towards Michelle Obama helped in a difficult phase of the UK/US long relationship.
She has kept her position as constitutional monarch by understanding exactly how she mustĀ not be seen to be interfering in contentious matters that divide the parties and Parliament. She has avoided over hasty action when Parliament itself fails to deliver a reliable majority for the Prime Minister, understanding that at such times of dispute the elected politicians have to find their own way through. Over the Jubilee holiday we can relax a little, celebrate all that is good about the modern UK, and thank the Queen for her service.
June 2, 2022
Good morning.
Hear hear.
I have often wondered, given Her Majesty’s long reign, what she really thought of all her PM’s and which ones she either liked or disliked ?
The one thing that I believe she did make it known her position on, was BREXIT (If our kind host allows)
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/brexit-latest-news-queen-said-she-backed-uk-leaving-eu-a7495926.html
And finally to quote another, Queen, or be it the title of one of their songs, “Who wants to live forever ?”
Well we would like you live forever you Majesty.
Happy Jubilee. You have more than earned it
š
June 2, 2022
Hear, hear Mark B and hear, hear JR!
Enjoy the celebrations of the jubilee! I feel we all need them, to come together as friends, families and neighbours!
June 2, 2022
Indeed long live the queen.
A great shame that Prince Charles and Prince William have not learned the obvious lesson from the queen to just keep out of politics. Particularly on climate alarmism when they are both clearly deluded and totally wrong and hugely hypocritical with it with their private jets, helicopters, huge houses and Aston Martins.
Too late for the foolish Charles I suppose now, but perhaps William can row back. Perhaps Boris/Carrie/Kwasi can get real too. Kwasi is a bit it seems. The two bank holidays will cost me/my businesses about Ā£10,000 in wages but with no sales or production income. So yet another backdoor tax in effect but so be it.
June 2, 2022
Don’t forget the Climate Hypocrisy of the non-Royal, but won’t revoke their titles, Duke and Duchess of Netflix, who flew in from LaLaLand on a private jet to exploit the Jubilee celebrations.
June 2, 2022
Indeed.
June 2, 2022
The Sun can make up any claim that it likes about what she thinks, and she cannot reply.
Which is exactly as squalid as you would expect from a rag like that.
I see that Tobias Ellwood has chosen this time to make his recommendation that the UK should rejoin the European Union’s single market.
Well, that’s out now.
June 2, 2022
Who mentioned The Sun?
June 2, 2022
The Independent.
June 2, 2022
Oh well it must be right then.
lol
Eh NHL?
June 2, 2022
Like so many MPs who were pretending to ‘get it done’ …..
June 2, 2022
‘I have often wondered, given Her Majestyās long reign, what she really thought of all her PMās and which ones she either liked or disliked ?’
– The Queen is more interested in her race horses. Good luck to her (I would be too ..). Although I’d say she probably admired Winston Churchill the most as he was a great wartime leader and helped to save this country from falling into the hands of the Nazis.
(And I like the Queen’s father King George VI. He wasn’t just a king but a proper gentleman too. One or two other royals, from the past / present, could learn a thing or two about that).
June 2, 2022
+1
June 2, 2022
“I have often wondered, given Her Majestyās long reign, what she really thought of all her PMās and which ones she either liked or disliked ?”
Anyway, I expect she has brought out the best in them in private audience.
June 2, 2022
It seems to me that the most important factor about the Monarch is often lost in the miasma of gossip and scandal about royal individuals – the United Kingdom owes a very great deal of its overall peace and stability to having a constitutional monarchy rather than an elective Presidency.
June 2, 2022
What a strange assertion. Can you back it up with anything? France and the USA seem to struggle along without a Queen and Princes and all the other fairy tale characters in attendance.
June 2, 2022
Well, glancing back over the past couple of centuries regarding France, they have run through a couple of Empires and FIVE Republics; you will of course also remember the quite recent turbulence at the White House, with a US President appearing to be tentatively promoting a violent rebellion. And I won’t mention the sad mental decline of the current incumbent if you won’t.
On a more serious note, constitutional monarchies appear to be able to resist dictators rather more effectively than republics.
June 2, 2022
“with a US President appearing to be tentatively promoting a violent rebellion. ” Only according to those who had executed the actual coup.
June 2, 2022
You’re right, but the Monarchy does connect well with our Judaeo-Christian / the best of our Greco-Roman past so for that alone I’d like to see the Monarchy remain. Plus the Queen has obviously done an excellent job.
June 2, 2022
Posts and comments on this site are getting more bizarre by the month. The UK has an unelected Head of State who plays no active part in directing the country; and is simply a tourist attraction. Such a system allows a dominant party, authoritarian dictatorship to emerge, uncontrolled by a legislature that is less than useless. If Downing Street gets caught breaking the rules, then they will change the rules; who’s going to stop them. Can you imagine a popularly elected Head of State like Biden or Macron; putting up with a Head of Government like Boris Johnson?
What are the chances of England becoming a republic? Polls since the 1990s have shown the proportion favouring a republic as ranging from 13% to 29% but have generally indicated the figure rests at around one fifth of the population, surveys in the early 2020s suggest this figure may have slightly increased (Wiki). Hands up all those who can remember when the last Interregnum was!
June 2, 2022
So, you are party to the discussions between the Queen and her Prime Ministers then?
And to promote Macron and Biden as good examples is quite bizarre. I’d lay of the gin today if I were you. As you say some posts lately are quite bizarre.
June 2, 2022
OK, try this. First Lady Cherie.
JF
June 2, 2022
struggle is a good description.
And to think our politics is an Eton Mess.
June 2, 2022
Yes, I don’t think too many people really understand the value of a constitutional monarchy.
Just imagine having President Blair….
June 2, 2022
It’s incredible what Russia had to go through – the killing of the Tsar and his family, the Russian Revolution, Stalin, the gulags, The Soviet Union, the Cold War – and now we’re back to have a Tsar in all but name in Pootin.
June 2, 2022
I thought you were going to say like Johnson.
June 2, 2022
Here ! Hear ! Well said SM
June 2, 2022
Yes, Switzerland must be a dreadful place in which to live (sarcasm), without the benefit of a Disneyland monarchy.
June 2, 2022
If the monarchy is to be dissolve please do not replace the position with a presidency, elected or notā¦.that position/station isnāt needed unless you wish to create another layer of elitesā¦.let the leader (when the chamber is fully elected) of the house of Lords assume the role when required
June 2, 2022
+1
June 2, 2022
She preserved Royalty well for 70 years.
June 2, 2022
Why should āRoyaltyā be preserved? If it ever had a place, surely that time is over. They donāt ride into battle on horses anymore.
June 2, 2022
+100
Exactly.
And when war is fomented they and the arms-greedy, warmongering politicians should be made to do so.
June 2, 2022
It is noticeable that the two who did go into battle were hidden today.
June 2, 2022
no – they fly helicopters in peace and wartime.
June 2, 2022
The Queenās loyalty to the vows she undertook at the outset is strong evidence of her enduring quality as Head of State. Often, not commenting maintains part of that dignity.
Prince Philip was a stalwart too, in expressing raw candid humour. Together, they were brilliant in truth and reality. Today, avoid-offence zealots attempt to stifle free speech.
Name any politician as so loyal to the pledges he or she makes and freely responds in expressing raw truth.
June 2, 2022
I wonder if you would stifle the free speech of someone who is a republican?
June 2, 2022
Please note . MW you are in a minority , thankfully!
June 3, 2022
Mike W:
Truth exerts power whether spoken or not.
Opinions vary; some are valid. Individuals can assess and decide for themselves.
Stifling free speech is daft, but folk should not tell children freely to swallow poison.
Firemen say āDonāt enter a burning buildingā. Some might call them hypocrites, but in praise.
Republicans can think & say whatever they like. Many reveal valuable truth to others, yet everyone should think first.
June 2, 2022
Brilliant woman who has shown such dedication to her country. She deserves our admiration and that of the world. She knows what to say and when to say it but not sure our next monarch will be so accommodating. Well done to her. She’s a credit to our nation.
June 2, 2022
Indeed but also awhen to not say things and to keep out of controversial politics.
June 2, 2022
While in the real world………
There are those who understand and there are those who are condemned to repeat precisely the same mistake over and over again which is why this nation is where it is, splintered, broken and on the brink of cultural, moral and fiscal bankruptcy
I’ll focus on the evidence that reality proffers to arrive at my own conclusions and let others wallow for a few days in what has now become a political exercise designed primarily to deflect attention away from issues that contain within them hidden dangers and in many cases dangers that can be seen with the open eye, should people choose to look
I am no republican and never have been simply because I held the opinion that a constitutional monarchy was the most effective bulwark against authoritarianism. Well, the last 3 years have shown this model to be broken by those whose task was to manage it.
To see Trudeau shaking hands with the Queen some months back was an act of politics designed to rehabilitate this man’s reputation who still governs a nation that is effectively an authoritarian State
No bunting for me thanks not when the Head of State has lent her authority to be abused by politicians to roll out their fearful plans
June 2, 2022
+multi millions.
Hear!Hear!
As you sayā¦.NO BUNTING!!
( and I am no republican either).
June 2, 2022
At the end of the day Justin Trudeau is Canada’s problem and it is up to Canada and her people to resolve it peacefully. The Queen has, in her long reign, has shaken many a hand of a despot and despite everything she and her reign has endured. That to me is something to celebrate.
Of course we too have our problems and, we must fix them in the same way, but for now let us have a respite and enjoy the weather and the celebrations.
June 2, 2022
Cheer up Dom and join the celebration of our Queen’s 70 very successful years on the throne throughout which she has handled every difficulty whether public or family superbly. And thank God she is still with us.
Thank you Sir John for today’s excellent blog
June 2, 2022
DOM
Iām in total agreement with you, I WAS a monarchist but no more, theyāre all globalists!
The images of her greeting Trudeau like a long lost son were nauseating, refusing to meet him would have sent a powerful message
June 4, 2022
It would have been surprising if the Head of the Commonwealth had not met the PM of one of its original and oldest member countries.
June 2, 2022
Agree
June 2, 2022
‘While in the real worldā¦ā¦ā¦’
– What is the real world exactly?!
June 2, 2022
‘While in the real worldā¦ā¦ā¦’
– What is the real world exactly?!
The ‘real [modern] world’ has lost contact with so much that was great from the past in particular it’s Judaeo-Christian and best of its Greco-Roman heritage.
June 2, 2022
Trudeau may be an extremely ill-advised PM in compulsorily mandating a dangerous and ineffectual vaccine (following the science) and welcoming as immigrants, exclusively, all those whose countrymen had no role in creating that great country, however, he was appointed by Her Majesty’s representative in Canada as PM of that Commonwealth country and as such Her Majesty clearly recognised her constitutional duty in entertaining him with courtesy.
June 2, 2022
Lovely lady. Proud to have served her in the Royal Navy.
June 2, 2022
My next door neighbour also served in the RN and on the Royal Yacht Britannia too ! Many lively stories of Her Majesty and the Royal Family.
June 2, 2022
Today our mighty army of windmills is generating 0.24gw out of an installed capacity of 35gw. Surely this must be a record low.
June 2, 2022
And whats happened to global warmingā¦its never felt so cold for the month of May and the start of June
June 2, 2022
glen
Its morphed into Climate Change silly. Keep up mate
It’s still a scam.
š
June 2, 2022
Seventy year jubilee. Congratulations.
A young queen whose reign some watched like a long running TV show.
Apart from a carefully scripted Christmas message she mostly kept her views to herself.
Her successors will not have the advantage of youth when they come to the throne. They will also have political baggage from various opinions shared in the media.
June 2, 2022
She is a woman of considerable strength and integrity and has served the country well.
I can only think of few politicians and one Prime Minister in my lifetime who have displayed the same qualities.
Which is why the country is in the appalling state it is.
June 2, 2022
Her Majesty has been, and still is, ‘Simply the best’, ‘nobody does it better’.
June 2, 2022
I agree sheās been a great queen and I wish her well on her jubileeā¦.I just fear what comes next, but thatās for another day
June 2, 2022
why fear it, could be a laugh a minute, and a cull of the sort of Royal a lot of us want rid of!
Hug a tree, talk to your plants, moan about modern building design – -whats not to like?
June 2, 2022
Yesā¦she has overseen the democratisation, dumbing down and destruction of everything.
The raising up of none.
And now 4 days of out of control mayhem and misery lie ahead.
June 2, 2022
What a sad life you must live. Never hopeful.
June 2, 2022
At least my eyes are open wide and I have no interest in hurting or insulting people.
June 2, 2022
Happily I donāt spend my life worrying about windmill output.
I KNOW they canāt deliver!
June 2, 2022
But there’s millions out there that don’t know. It’s our duty to educate them.
They’ve just granted a licence for the Jackdaw field because we continue to chivvy them.
June 2, 2022
So actually we are in agreement!
June 2, 2022
Everhopeful
Iām in total agreement with you, in my book thereās nothing to celebrate, all the politicians falling over themselves to ingratiate themselves!
A sickening spectacle
June 2, 2022
+1
Exactly!
June 2, 2022
Why is the govt. looking to āgenetic technologiesā for āfood securityā when it is paying farmers to stop farming and to ārewildā farmland.
Probably for the same reason ( as JR tweets) that govt. came up with the windfall tax.
Obeying Brussels.
June 2, 2022
Well if farmland is not farmed anymore we can concrete over it !
June 2, 2022
+1 God save the Queen
June 2, 2022
The Queen has done a sterling job of public service for the last 70 year, supported well for most of it by her Duke of Edinburgh. We should thank her profusely and support her descendants in keeping the lineage in post.
Far better someone born to the role than someone paying to promote themselves in order to get voted in to the role. Nowhere in our world can it be shown that anyone putting themselves forward as a candidate for the head of a state is a better option than one born to the role (with the appropriate constitutional brakes).
And thank you for the long weekend – hope the sun comes out for everyone.
June 2, 2022
Will the Queen prevent the UN from dismantling our food system and ābuilding it back betterā with insects and sewage?
Her heir certainly will not.
June 2, 2022
Build Back Better….haven’t heard that for a while,, must be a by-election soon
June 2, 2022
Leadership without complaining about your self sacrifice of a personal alternative life preferred by most today is an excellent example to all the world.
Old fashioned “I’ll take the high road and you take the low road and I’ll be in Scotland afore you” sums it all up for me created at a time when it was Bonnie Scotland akin to Heaven.
She has weathered many storms but has inspired millions by a lifetime of service. The Matriarch of Britain.
June 2, 2022
Would that our political leaders had some of the qualities of our Queen
June 2, 2022
dream on…
June 2, 2022
Her Majesty the Queen, long may she reign. There will never be the like.
June 2, 2022
I second your sentiments Sir John.
My only puzzle of modern life is why people want to troop abroad to holiday when we have the most beautiful scenery and comfortable climate in the world.
God save our Queen
June 2, 2022
The Cornish coast is a magical place (and many other places in the UK).
June 2, 2022
Yes 70 years of living off the public purse despite being enormously wealthy and never doing a thing for ordinary people. Decades of plotting with her Davos and WEF chums to eliminate any freedom we might retain. Decades of sailing a luxury yacht or more recently flying jets (both funded by ordinary people) around the world whilst supposedly supporting the green agenda. Decades of covering up her family crimes. Decades of brain dead indoctrinated idiots fawning over her because she waves disdainfully at them occasionally whilst laughing at them with her chums.
Be grateful and worship her you worthless peasants.
June 2, 2022
+1
Spot on!
June 2, 2022
That is one view.
However as a serf I pay my dotage to the government not to the Queen.
It is the elected government that chooses to fleece me under threat of imprisonment. Her Majesty, I have always felt served me (while being well rewarded for it, but then she would not be take quite so seriously as a pauper with no trappings).
June 2, 2022
Reply to AH
No one is perfect but doubt few would exchange places and still stay sane without power going to their heads and biting their tongue for 70+ years.
Her Maj is respected in many parts of the world where ordinary people aspire to a better life as she is a symbol of hope based on my experience in Africa and Caribbean countries and Europe. She is regarded as cool because she has Grace, Style and Gravitas and does need to pander to bling etc like many celebrities.
“Why can’t you just leave (EU)” she asked. Freedom she holds dear.
As for sheep-like followers and brain dead?
All I can say is “Barrh!”
June 2, 2022
And remember she has Gee-Gees too!
June 2, 2022
Alan Holmes
Exactly right!
June 2, 2022
I wonder if Her Majesty is happy that over the last year of her reign, her Government has allowed a million people to legally migrate here (plus 30,000+ illegals) …… despite the promise Johnson made in his Manifesto that immigration would reduce?
I don’t doubt that the vast majority of her citizens aren’t, but that doesn’t seem to matter to our political class who ignore the wishes of the people they claim to represent.
June 2, 2022
Well, in 1977 I was the chairman of the Cameron Avenue street party committee up in Runcorn, not because I was a strong supporter of the monarchy or because I had great organisational skills but because the ladies who were the real driving and controlling force wanted men to act as the nominal leaders – chairman, secretary and treasurer. I can’t imagine that happening now, and nor have I wanted to be involved in anything like that this time, once was enough. Anyway I proposed the loyal toast and I would do that again now. Looking back I think that she had the personal qualities to be outstanding in whatever capacity, unlike some other members of the Royal Family, and I think we have been extremely lucky to have her as Queen.
June 2, 2022
+1
June 2, 2022
Itās funny that my message to Everhopeful has escaped being moderated
But Iām not in the least surprised, Iām surprised that my other post appeared
June 2, 2022
I know I’m chancing my arm going off topic, but I really would like the Queen and her heirs and successors to remain sovereigns for Northern Ireland until such time as the two peoples north and south jointly and severally take a mature and properly considered decision to unite, should that time ever come, which must be for them and not for me as an Englishman. However as an Englishman I don’t want those in the north to be cheated and to end up being bounced out of the United Kingdom, and hence my persistent interest. Which has led me to send another letter to the Belfast News Letter this morning, as follows:
“In 2019 goods worth Ā£11.1 billion were imported into Northern Ireland from Great Britain, while goods worth only Ā£3.4 billion were exported from the province to the Irish Republic.
From those two numbers it can be seen that at least 69 percent of the goods coming in from the rest of the UK did not carry on into the EU, and so would not have needed EU checks.
However that is by no means the end of the story, because some of the goods carried across the land border into the Irish Republic will have been produced within Northern Ireland.
Goods exports from the whole UK to the rest of the EU formed 7.7 percent of UK GDP; applying that percentage to the GDP of Northern Ireland, Ā£48.6 billion, gives Ā£3.7 billion.
So, just as a matter of arithmetic, it would be quite possible than none of the goods taken across the border had previously been imported into the province through its points of entry.
When Liz Truss lays out her plans it will be interesting to see what split between her “green” and “red” channels she envisages; it could be that nothing needs to go through the red.
But it will be even more interesting to hear where she proposes to apply EU checks to those goods produced within the province which are destined for export to the Irish Republic. “
June 2, 2022
I raise my glass of Waitrose-bought French Moet et Chandon Jubilee Rose Champagne to Her Majestyās health and hope that the around Ā£70 m/year of her civil list taken from the taxpayers will not be spent in vain.
Happy Jubilee celebrations to all ā¦
June 2, 2022
It would cost the same for a President and his hangers on Hef plus the election costs and campaign contributions which contributors would be looking for a return on.
June 2, 2022
Great value.
The French President who you praise costs a lot more.
PS
I thought the Civil List was abolished in October 2010.
And it is only a small proportion of income the Treasury gets from the Crown Estates returned to the Monarch.
(Surplus of Ā£210.7 million for the year ended 31/3/2010 for example)
June 2, 2022
Youāre right, since 01/04/2012 it is called Sovereign Grant: Ā£86.3 m for 2021-22.
And the legislation that governs it (Sovereign Grant Act, 18/10/2011) makes sure it can only be increased.
June 2, 2022
And the State gets more than it gives back to the Monarch.
Time to climb down off that very very high horse heffy.
June 2, 2022
It does not come from taxation but from the Crown Estate which George III exchanged with the Treasury for the Civil List (and now the Sovereign Grant). The Treasury makes a whopping profit, in billions.
June 3, 2022
rose, I looked at the Crown Estate profit for 2018/19: Ā£343.5 m, for 2019/20: Ā£345 m (thecrownestate.co.uk, 18/09/2020).
With a Sovereign Grant around Ā£80-85 m, the profit to the Treasury is in the few hundreds of millions, not billions.
June 3, 2022
On your figures. only takes 4 years to make a billion. Which presidents do you think return a profit to their nation?
June 3, 2022
– rose was quoting billions, as you have calculated it would take four years. So that was an exaggeration.
– from what are typically properties of the aristocracy, a bit Dutch after 1688, a bit Hanoverian till Queen Victoria, then Saxe-Coburg-Gotha with Prince Albert and Edward VII.
– What PMs do you think return a net profit to their nations?
June 3, 2022
Still a profit for the State.
June 2, 2022
shame on you for drinking that stuff.
June 3, 2022
MT, why that? Should I have sipped Pol Rogerās CuvĆ©e Winston Churchill Vintage Champagne?
June 2, 2022
Walking down to the local shops at lunchtime an old dear caught up with me and asked if I’d been watching the celebrations. She totally praised the Queen’s service.
She speculated on who was next, saying she liked Charles but wasn’t sure about his wife.
That’s the big dilemma.
I quite like Camilla these days, she smokes, cracks jokes and is true to her love.
However …..
June 2, 2022
which love would that be ….there were a few, friends, husband, lovers….another husband!
June 3, 2022
Well Charles obviously. Good on her.
Many of us have had friends , lovers etc.
The public wont judge her for that.
Even us diehard Diana fans !
June 2, 2022
Her Majesty has set many good examples to her subjects. She has demonstrated that marriage is the right vocation for a woman having reached maturity; in this she was most fortunate in having Prince Philip as her consort, a man of substance in his own right. She has performed her Constitutional role tirelessly and with good humour. She has kept her personal interests private. She is noted for her moderation in consumption. She is in many ways a paragon.
June 2, 2022
What we see with Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II is the embodiment of saving grace, exactly in line with the national anthem and the prayers of many a Christian both here and abroad. Unless you share in that same saving faith, you simply won’t see past the worldly splendour of our Monarchy, which is an emblem of heavenly Sovereignty.
Out and about today, for all our troubles, there was such a felicitous atmosphere. To God be the glory for all his mercy, as witnessed in Her Majesty’s long and faithful reign.
June 2, 2022
Hear, hear, Norman.
And thank you, Sir John, for your comment today which reminds us how our Queen has been exemplary in her understanding and faithful enactment of the role of constitutional monarch.
Mary M.
June 2, 2022
Great to see the police get rid of the animal activist quickly during trooping the colour. Shame they can’t be as efficient on our motorways.
June 2, 2022
mistakenly dragged away – should have let the bandsmen walk over them, followed by the horses.
June 3, 2022
Heard one of them interviewed on radio today – a student. There’s a surprise. He said we have 3 years to the end of the world. Been hearing that since at least 1989 including from our future king. A good wash and a bit of discipline or a job and responsibilities might make them grow up.
June 2, 2022
God save the Queen.
Marvellous woman.
June 5, 2022
I quote from the BBC webssite on 28 December 2018:
Writing in his blog on Friday, [John Redwood] said the UK would “cash in” if it left [the EU] without an agreement as it would not have to hand over Ā£39bn to the EU and would be able to spend the money instead on public services.
Brexit is a total catastrophe, Mr Redwood. No cashing in at all. Nothing good about, unless you count crowns on pint glasses.
Perhaps you could produce some concrete evidence to show otherwise?
Reply We are saving billions on EU charges as I forecast!
June 6, 2022
Canāt you see JTathrusk, how all these billions saved on EU charges have allowed Sir Johnās Government to decrease our tax burden?