Her Majesty was the only monarch that the majority of British people ever knew. She was a constant in our lives and in those of millions of people in the realms, the Commonwealth and the entire world. She embodied what it meant to be British and gave to her nation steadfast leadership, courage, joy, and, when necessary, hope.
Tributes to HM the Queen have flowed in from around the world. But I wanted to mention her relationship with France in particular. As President Macron said, “She loved France and France loved her back”. She was a fluent French speaker, courtesy of her mother’s desire that she should master the language as a child. She made many visits here during her life. Her first official visit, as Princess Elizabeth, was in 1948 and reminds us of the remarkable continuity that she has represented, connecting us all across generations. Over the years, she met 10 French Presidents and had a deep appreciation of the subtleties of the relations between our countries – our history of shared sacrifice and of friendly rivalry. As she put it once, “the Latin and Anglo-Saxon worlds are like oil and vinegar: very different but you need them both to make a proper dressing.”
Her contribution to the relations between our countries will outlast her. As M. le President put it “Le lien entre la France et le Royaume-Uni est indéfectible. Nous continuerons à le tisser, en suivant le chemin tracé par Sa Majesté la Reine Elizabeth II.”
I would like to thank the British community for your support at this sad moment for our nation, and to the many members of the French Government and other leading figures for your displays of condolence.
I will finish by sharing a couplet from the poem ‘Floral Tribute’ that Simon Armitage, the Poet Laureate has written to mark Her Majesty’s passing:
“The country loaded its whole self into your slender hands,
Hands that can rest, now, relieved of a century’s weight.”
God Save The King
The British Ambassador to France,
Dame Menna Rawlings