This morning I left my Ealing North constituency to come to Parliament by boarding an Elizabeth line train. As we know, the mark of Queen Elizabeth II on our banknotes, our coins, our stamps and so on will gradually give way over time to the mark of King Charles III, but in our part of the country, those stations and trains mean that my constituents and I will always have a physical tribute to our greatest monarch running through our borough.
To the great disappointment of the countless primary school children who have asked me since I was elected, I never had the chance to meet the Queen as an MP, but I know that I was not alone in feeling her presence across Greenford, Perivale, Northolt, Hanwell and Ealing during the platinum jubilee celebrations in June. In our diverse part of London, people of all ages, all backgrounds, and all faiths and none, came out to celebrate the reign of our Queen and our love of our community and country. After the separation of the pandemic, we were celebrating the Queen’s jubilee with our neighbours, and that celebration itself helped the Queen’s assurance during lockdown—that better days would return—to come true.
At those jubilee celebrations, as in the House of Commons today, everyone had their personal reflection on the Queen and what it was about her that they most admired. For me, what stood out above all else was her most incredible sense of duty and her awesome devotion to service, which, quite simply, was her life. On behalf of the people of Ealing North, I offer our deepest condolences to the King and the royal family, and our most heartfelt thanks for the life of Queen Elizabeth II, whose legacy will live on forever.
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